Commentary: China can’t afford to ignore its army of gig workers

HONG KONG: Pivoting to a tech-driven growth model after the collapse of the property sector is a sensible move for China. The strategy has helped Beijing win a trade truce with Washington. But it may take years for the country’s industrial giants to mature enough to create enough jobs. In the meantime, some 200 million people – equivalent to about 40 per cent of the urban labour force – are stuck in the gig economy. That experience lies at the core of writer Hu Anyan’s bestselling memoir I Deliver Parcels in Beijing, a raw, darkly comical work newly available in…