Published by ChinaMNC · Haifeng

What Foreign Founders Can Learn from Lufeng's 'Light Cavalry' for New Employment Groups

Lufeng City organizes delivery riders and drivers into party-led 'Light Cavalry' teams, turning them into governance partners. Foreign founders can learn how to engage China's platform economy workforce and build grassroots relationships.

What Foreign Founders Can Learn from Lufeng's 'Light Cavalry' for New Employment Groups

As China's platform and sharing economies expand, new employment groups—couriers, food delivery riders, ride-hailing and truck drivers, and livestreamers—have become essential to urban life. For foreign founders operating in China, understanding how local governments organize and integrate these workers offers practical lessons for building relationships, ensuring compliance, and tapping into grassroots networks. This article summarizes a recent government report from Lufeng City, Shanwei, on its 'Party Member Light Cavalry' initiative, which mobilizes these workers for grassroots governance.

Background: The Challenge of New Employment Groups

New employment groups are characterized by high mobility, weak organizational coverage, and difficulty in mobilizing them for public purposes. Lufeng City addressed this by launching the 'Party Members Are By Your Side' activity and forming 'Party Member Light Cavalry' teams, aiming to transform these workers from 'governance objects' into 'governance forces.' The approach extends party organization and work to the street level and into daily life.

Building the 'Light Cavalry' Teams

Systematic Mapping and Organization

Lufeng organized town and street party committees, together with industry regulators, platform companies, and delivery stations, to conduct a comprehensive survey of couriers, delivery riders, ride-hailing drivers, truck drivers, and livestreamers. They verified information company by company, station by station, and person by person, and established a database of party members. Following the principle of 'similar industries, neighboring locations, and manageable scope,' they set up party organizations in all five platform companies and formed five 'Light Cavalry' service teams with 30 members, including couriers and food delivery riders.

In Jieshi Town, riders with strong political quality and good public reputation were selected under the principle of 'party members leading, public recognition, and selecting the best.' Party backbone members served as team leaders responsible for daily scheduling and task allocation. Team members received unified 'Party Member Rider' identification, with team flags on their vehicles and 'Party Members Are By Your Side' stickers on delivery boxes. They wear party badges while working, making 'mobile party members' into 'walking role models.'

Flexible Education and Career Development

Given fragmented work hours and unstable workplaces, Lufeng used 'Knight Gas Stations' and other venues to offer '15 minutes before shift' and 'station micro-party lectures,' and set up online study groups to push learning materials regularly. They established a three-level linkage mechanism: 'branch coordination, team leader scheduling, and member response,' integrating volunteer services with delivery routes. The city also focuses on identifying and training talent from outstanding members and recommending them for management positions. For example, Wang Huibin, a YTO Express courier and party member, was appointed supervisor of the YTO Express Lufeng station earlier this year, leading a team of nearly 70 people. He regularly checks safety hazards, handles business disputes, listens to workers' demands, and builds team cohesion—a model of growth and achievement within new employment groups.

Supportive Services and Safe Production

To give the teams a sense of belonging, Lufeng integrated community party service centers and platform operation centers to create 'Knight Gas Stations' and 'Warm New Stations' that combine rest areas, party activities, and task claiming. These provide riders and drivers with drinking water, hot meals, phone charging, and emergency medicine. The city also regularly organizes 'summer cooling and winter warmth' and holiday visits, helping resolve difficulties related to labor rights, children's schooling, and medical care, and unblocking channels for expressing demands. Team members are guided to lead in implementing safety production requirements, regularly checking and rectifying hazards in warehousing, sorting, transportation, and delivery to maintain industry safety.

Integrating into Grassroots Governance

New employment groups traverse streets and visit households daily, making them familiar with every corner of the city. Lufeng leverages this advantage to provide platforms and functions for the 'Light Cavalry,' guiding them to participate in grassroots governance while on the move and gain a sense of belonging through service.

Mobile Outreach and Information Reporting

Team members carry 'volunteer equipment' such as civilization flyers, drowning prevention megaphones, and hazard registration cards in their delivery boxes. During delivery breaks, they publicize party policies and spread knowledge on drug control, anti-fraud, forest fire prevention, and drowning prevention. A WeChat group for community 'part-time grid workers' encourages members to photograph and report road hazards, damaged municipal facilities, and uncivilized behavior immediately, ensuring early detection and transmission of risks. In Jieshi Town, more than 30 party member riders have reported over 120 valid clues, becoming true 'mobile sentinels' in grassroots governance.

Volunteer Service and Emergency Response

The 'Light Cavalry' also serves as 'pioneer riders' for volunteer services, focusing on urgent public needs and regularly conducting emergency rescue, elderly assistance, poverty relief, and traffic guidance. In April this year, Jieshi food delivery rider Wu Siwei rescued a middle school student hit by an electric bike in the middle of traffic; the parents later tracked him down to thank him. During summer typhoons and rainstorms, delivery rider Chen Jibao heard cries for help and found a middle-aged woman swept away by rushing water. He stopped his delivery bike and rushed into knee-deep water, struggling several times but holding steady, and with the help of others moved the woman to safety. After confirming she was conscious, he left silently, soaked through. Facing delayed orders, he said, 'Orders can be redone, but life is only once.' His heroic act received high praise and became the best footnote to the 'Light Cavalry' spirit.

Results and Incentives

Lufeng has achieved new breakthroughs in organizational coverage, effectively incorporating dispersed and mobile party members among new employment groups into organizational management. Party building in this sector has moved from 'intangible' to 'tangible' and from 'tangible' to 'effective,' with 100% party organization coverage in platform companies. The 'Light Cavalry' acts as 'mobile sentinels,' enabling early detection and small-scale resolution of risks, and collecting public sentiment on the front line. A points system provides material incentives for riders who actively participate in governance, extending governance to the street level so that people truly feel 'the organization is by your side, party members are in front of you, and services are at hand.' The party's political and organizational advantages are continuously transformed into grassroots governance effectiveness.

Since the formation of the 'Light Cavalry,' several members have received recognition and incentives. YTO Express party member Wang Huibin spoke as a representative at the Shanwei City Disaster Prevention and Relief Advanced Deeds Symposium and received commendation. Jieshi food delivery rider Wen Jiewei was elected as a town people's congress representative, and Lu Zezheng, head of the Donghai Street Taobao Flash Purchase station, was recommended as a candidate for the political consultative conference. The demonstration effect continues to grow, with more outstanding young people from new employment groups actively applying to join the party, and the team's appeal and cohesion constantly strengthening.

Next Steps

Lufeng will continue to expand coverage and improve quality, extending the 'Light Cavalry' to ride-hailing drivers, truck drivers, livestreamers, and other new employment groups. It will improve systems for points management, recognition and incentives, and care guarantees to standardize team management and normalize their role. It will deepen integration with grid governance, civilization creation, and emergency response, ensuring that 'party red' always flies on the grassroots front and injecting new momentum into Lufeng's social governance pattern of co-construction, co-governance, and sharing.

Practical Takeaways for Foreign Founders

For foreign founders registering or operating a company in China, Lufeng's initiative offers several insights:

• Engage with local party organizations: Understanding how party building extends into platform companies can help you align your corporate social responsibility and government relations strategies.
• Support employee participation in governance: Encouraging your delivery or platform workers to participate in community service and hazard reporting can build goodwill and strengthen relationships with local authorities.
• Provide worker welfare and development: Investing in rest areas, training, and career advancement for frontline workers can improve retention and morale, as seen with Wang Huibin's promotion.
• Leverage mobile workforces for outreach: If your business involves logistics or deliveries, consider how your workers can serve as information channels for public safety and community engagement.
• Stay informed on incentives: Points systems and public recognition can motivate workers and align with local governance goals.

This summary is based on information published by the relevant Chinese government website and is general information, not legal or tax advice.