If you have ever ordered a cup of hot coffee or tea to be delivered in the winter, chances are it was already cold when it arrived due to the frigid weather.
If you ever go camping at a scenic spot or a public park this summer in China, chances are you will likely sit inside your little tent and, oppressed by the ambient heat, place an online order using your smartphone for a cup of iced coffee or ice cream. And when the delivery person materializes in a jiffy with your refreshments, you will saunter across to the gate to pick it up.
On a congested sidewalk next to a busy mall in Shenzhen, a 20-something woman uses a smartphone app to order a milk tea on Meituan, a major food delivery company. In under ten minutes, the pearl-white drink arrives, not on the back of one of the city’s ubiquitous delivery bikes, but descending from the cloudy […]