Recently, the small theater of the Italian Federation of Writers in Rome was packed. Under the spotlight, Wang Jibing, the "deliveryman poet" from Kunshan, sat beside Martina Benigni (Chinese name: Lin Mingyue), a doctoral student at Sapienza University of Rome, and shared with the audience the story of their serendipitous connection through a poem. From the poem "At Three in the Afternoon" to Wang's visit to Rome, the poem's warm imagery and Kunshan's new employment-service initiative "At Three in the Afternoon · Walking with Light" continued to ripple outward, building bridges to the wider world.

"This is a precious friendship born of literature, dreams, and kindness," Wang said. Martina replied, "Wang is a poet who finds poetry in everyday life and shares that beauty with us." Their accounts drew repeated applause.

Their story began with the poem "At Three in the Afternoon." "She has fallen asleep, the child in her arms also asleep..." The serene, intimate scene—a mother and child resting—deeply moved Martina, an overseas Chinese doctoral student in Rome. She translated the poem into Italian and published it in Internazionale, quietly sparking a cross‑border friendship.

"I first knew Mr. Wang through literature. At first he was just a 'poet pal'; now he is one of my closest friends," Martina said at the gathering.

The event echoed their first meeting in Kunshan last year and further deepened their transnational friendship. As Zhang Lingxiao, cultural counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Italy, observed: "The story of Wang Jibing and Martina is a vivid, simple testament to Sino‑Italian friendship."

Though Kunshan is a county‑level city, it has notable international reach. It has its own international aviation code, KHL, a flight network touching more than 100 countries and regions; it has attracted over 10,000 foreign investment projects from more than 80 countries and regions. That openness provides fertile ground for cultural exchange. Wang's poems have traveled those paths: in 2019 his work "Black Characters on White Paper" appeared in Indonesia's International Daily; in 2024 "At Three in the Afternoon" ran in Italy's Internazionale; and in 2025 his collection Low Altitude Flight secured a contract with a French publisher.

As a representative creator of China's "new popular literature and art," Wang has written more than 6,000 poems, translated into multiple languages and published in five countries. "At Three in the Afternoon" has become one of his signature pieces.

China Youth Daily, Suzhou Broadcasting System, and Kunshan Integrated Media Center recognized the story's cultural value and co‑produced the feature film "At Three in the Afternoon — The Global Resonance of a Deliveryman's Poem," promoting it at home and abroad. Within weeks the topic drew over 100 million views on Weibo and more than 12 million views on overseas platforms. The short poem, capturing an ordinary worker's quiet moment, struck a powerful emotional chord that crossed occupations and borders.

Since last December, sharing sessions for "At Three in the Afternoon" have been held at multiple venues, including the Rome 9 China‑Italy Economic and Cultural Exchange Center and Liceo Mamiani di Pesaro (Mamiani High School in Pesaro). These events have opened a window for the world to understand contemporary China and feel the emotions of its ordinary people.

Why the title "At Three in the Afternoon"? Wang Jibing explained that it captures a relatively relaxed moment in a delivery rider's busy day—“the moment when one blows on the hot steam of life.” Kunshan recognized that moment and endowed it with new meaning, turning it into a beam of light illuminating the lives of the city's hardworking commuters.

On Jan. 15, 2026, Kunshan launched the "At Three in the Afternoon · Walking with Light" employment‑service system to build it into a recognized local employment‑service brand. The poem's title has thus grown into the city's collective response to its builders.

Kunshan's focus on workers in emerging professions has clear reasons. More than two‑thirds of Kunshan's population are migrants, including nearly 100,000 people in new‑type occupations. They ride the city's streets and alleys, delivering the "flavor of everyday life" to thousands of households—an indispensable emerging workforce. As Wang has said, "If I were to rewrite the world of gallantry, I would dedicate it to the delivery guys who honor our era with their work."

The "At Three in the Afternoon" brand began as poetry; Kunshan has expanded it through systematic services.

From one individual to a whole community, Kunshan has integrated new‑type workers into areas such as food safety, grassroots governance, and public‑awareness campaigns under the "At Three in the Afternoon" banner. Acting as "mobile sensors" of social conditions and public sentiment, delivery workers are encouraged to move from being "service recipients" to "service managers." That shift can enliven the city and strengthen these workers' sense of belonging.

That sense of belonging has become one of the city's most powerful and heartwarming hallmarks.

The ultimate aim of these services is to make Wang and his peers true masters of the city. Kunshan, a place of goodwill, gave Wang the platform in Rome to invite audiences to visit China—to come to Suzhou and Kunshan—and experience its warmth and beauty firsthand.

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