Foreigners hired to deliver packages during the Lunar New Year have caused a stir in China. A delivery company in Nanjing, Jiangsu said foreign couriers are filling in for their Chinese staff who have gone home to celebrate the traditional holiday, China News Network reported.

Foreign delivery workers in China
A group of foreign delivery workers in Nanjing. Photo: yicai.com.

The report said that the foreigners were very popular with the locals as some of them even greeted their clients in the local Nanjing dialect.

Woman receives package from foreign delivery worker
A woman receives a package from a foreign delivery worker. Photo: yicai.com.

Curious residents took pictures of the foreigners dressed in delivery company uniforms.

A woman receives a package
A woman receives a package from a foreign worker. Photo: yicai.com.

Netizens also welcomed the arrangement. One user on the Twitter-like Weibo platform asked what she needed to buy in order to have the foreign delivery workers appear at her door.

Delivery worker on a moped
Foreign delivery worker on a motorcycle. Photo: yicai.com.

The workers, who were hired part-time, went through training and obtained licences to become couriers, China News Network said.

Foreign delivery workers
Foreign delivery workers holding Chinese New Year banners. Photo: yicai.com.

Many migrants working in big cities in China return to their hometowns during the Lunar New Year holidays, creating a temporary shortage of workers each year.

Chantal Yuen is a Hong Kong journalist interested in issues dealing with religion and immigration. She majored in German and minored in Middle Eastern studies at Princeton University.