Beijing embraces gig workers’ cause – but not their activists

When Beijing labor official Wang Lin spent a day investigating life as a takeout food delivery worker last month, much more was riding on his stunt than on-time orders of dumplings and noodle soup.

Filmed panting as he raced up stairs and jogged down alleys, the balding bureaucrat was fined for a late delivery, got lost in the crowded streets of Beijing’s high-tech hub Zhongguancun, and earned just 41 yuan ($6.30) during his 12-hour shift.

But the overriding mission of Mr. Wang’s reality show-style adventure was less about exposing hardship in China’s gig economy – which now has some 7 million food delivery “riders” – than it was about dramatizing government concern over working conditions. This concern was underscored recently by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who called for “protection of

Unequal progressGrassroots pressure“I won’t deliver food forever”