Rolling Wheels

Life suspended above the wheels
A flowing China beneath the wheels
In a super-economy like China, truck drivers play a crucial role.
In the first three quarters of 2025, the production and daily lives of 1.4 billion people generated 43.25 billion tons of freight, nearly three-quarters (73.7%) of which was transported on roads by these drivers. However, compared to food delivery and express couriers who are visible in cities, truck drivers are extremely hidden. They are "welded" into a small, mobile space, traversing highways, hills, and the boundaries between urban and rural areas. Their lives are precisely segmented into various nodes by mileage and departure times.
Since 2019, my colleagues and I have traveled to various places, conducting interviews by riding along with truck drivers from start to finish, sharing their meals and lodging. Over five years, we've accumulated nearly 20 stories, covering the period before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, spanning both domestic and international routes in China. The content includes busy express delivery routes in the Pearl River Delta, coal transport routes in Shanxi and Shaanxi, the remote Qinghai-Tibet and Xinjiang routes, and even emerging cross-border routes such as China-Laos and China-Russia.
We hope to use this to tell the story of this foundational industry in the economic circulation chain, and in turn, outline the changing industrial landscape behind it. More importantly, we aim to understand the genuine joys, angers, sorrows, and delights of individuals hidden within the seemingly cold and rugged exterior of a truck.
A rolling life has no end, only the next service area.

2026-03-01

上海译文出版社

344

9787580700025