Food delivery man wins Chinese poetry competition

World
Europe

On Wednesday evening, one delivery man from China's Hubei Province surprised the audience of CCTV's The Chinese Poetry Competition.

Showing off his knowledge on Chinese ancient poems, Lei Haiwei emerged as the champion after battling nine rounds in the show's third season finale, defeating even a master of literature from Peking University.

Lei, 37, has been working in Hangzhou for 10 years. His knowledge in poetry was inspired by his father when he was a child. His father would write poetry and teach him to read. "At that time, my father wanted me to be an educated and cultured person," Lei said.

Lei delivering food on the road /Hangzhou plus news Photo

But as he was growing up, because of the frequent school transfers, Lei missed the chance of going to a university. In 2004, Lei worked as a salesman for a gift company where he found a book called "How to Write Chinese Poetry." He bought it and since then studied on his own. He would also go to bookstores to read poetry books every weekend and start to write his own poems.

Lei's poem notebook /Hangzhou Plus News photo

After more than 10 years of learning, he has memorized over thousands of poems by heart. In 2008, Lei went to Hangzhou and worked as a deliveryman. "Because the ancient poems describe Hangzhou so beautifully,” Lei said.

In 2016, the show The Chinese Poetry Competition started to broadcast on TV. In early 2018, Lei auditioned to become a contestant and got an outstanding result out of the more than 70,000 people who auditioned in Beijing.

Lei Haiwei on the final stage /TV show screenshot

"I think all the poetry that you write down at this moment will just blossom and become very brilliant," the host said after Lei passed all nine qualifying rounds of the competition and became the champion.

It could be the most beautiful experience in his life to be able to be part of the poetry competition after 13 years of hard-working. After winning, Lei still continued to deliver food. But no one could deny that his knowledge in poetry will always be with him no matter where he goes.