In Shenzhen’s Huaqiangbei—one of the world’s largest electronics hubs—a summer trend came to an abrupt end after authorities stepped in. For weeks, children as young as eight had been working as informal guides for food delivery riders, earning a few yuan per order by leading them through the market’s labyrinthine alleys and slow elevators.
Riders from platforms like Meituan and Ele.me paid the kids—mostly aged 10 to 12—via QR codes hung around their necks. Parents justified the work as a lesson in “earning money the hard way” or a way to reduce screen time. But safety risks, both for the children and the food they handled, led officials to shut it down.
Previously, the task was handled by market cleaners or full-time delivery helpers, some of whom managed up to 500 orders a day. The child guides made the riders’ jobs easier, but at the cost of slightly lower earnings (3 yuan per order instead of 5).
