Suning hires foreign students for delivery services in Spring Festival

If one day during Spring Festival, your door bell rings and a young foreigner is at your door with your parcels, don't be surprised.

春节假期这几天，如果某天你开门后看到一名金发碧眼的外国小伙说"春节好，这是你的快递"，不要太过惊讶。

Chinese e-commerce supplier Suning Tesco is hiring foreign students to work as couriers, to ensure efficient express delivery services during Spring Festival.

中国电商苏宁易购正在招募一批外国留学生当快递员，以保证春节期间物流的高效配送。

The upcoming festival, China's Lunar New Year, is expected to leave online shopping sites short-handed due to an exodus of workers. But to stand out in a competitive market, Suning Tesco is looking for foreign part-time workers to keep business running normally, at least in major cities, during this time.

在即将到来的春节期间，由于很多快递员工返乡过年，电商面临着快递人手短缺的问题。为了在日益激烈的电商竞争中生存下来，苏宁易购今年找寻了一批外国人当兼职快递员，保证一些大城市春节期间的配送不打烊。

Suning Tesco has recruited a group of foreign students to be couriers in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing and Chengdu.

苏宁易购已经在北京、上海、广州、深圳、南京和成都等地招募了一群外国学生当快递员。

"All candidates need to receive training on basic greetings in Chinese and gestures, before they actually take on the job," said a worker from Suning Tesco's delivery department.

苏宁易购物流部的一员工表示，"所有的申请人必须接受基本的春节拜年礼仪培训，合格后方可上岗。"

Russian exchange student from Guangzhou University, Ivan, is among the foreign couriers. "I never celebrated Spring Festival in China, very happy to have the chance to visit households, and experience real Chinese lunar new year greetings," he said.

来自俄罗斯的伊万是广州大学的交换生，他是苏宁的洋快递员之一。伊万表示，"我以前没有在中国过过春节，这次有机会走街串巷，亲身体验和感触正宗的中国式拜年，我觉得特别开心。"

Besides the shortage of employees, the express delivery industry was hit hard by the cold front that swept most parts of China.

除了人手短缺，本次席卷中国大部地区的寒潮天气也给快递业带来了很大的冲击。

Facing a slew of delays, the speed of parcel deliveries has slowed by 20 percent from Jan 20 to Jan 24, largely due to the bad weather, according to statistics from Cainiao, Alibaba's logistics arm. Couriers are also facing other barriers, such as traffic congestion and frozen fuel tanks.

据阿里巴巴的物流部门菜鸟网络的数据显示，1月20日至24日，有大量快递被延误，包裹配送速度也慢了20%，这在很大程度上是受恶劣天气的影响。快递员还面临一些其他的困难，比如道路拥堵，油箱冰冻等。