Online shopping in the Orient

This kind of three-wheeled cart, used by express delivery companies to distribute parcels, is ubiquitous in the streets of Beijing.

I WAS balancing four parcels in my arms when a fellow passenger in the lift – a man in his 60s – commented, “Shopping for the upcoming Spring festival, eh?”

I smiled, but then the lift door opened before I could ask him if he shopped online, too.