On November 16, 2025, a 21-year-old student from Hebei, known as Xiaoning, was sentenced to life in prison for helping a friend pick up a delivery across provinces, as drugs were found in the package. Xiaoning’s family believes the sentence is too heavy and has filed an appeal to the Supreme Court, sparking public attention.
Several Chinese media outlets reported on November 15 that Xiaoning’s family spoke out, emphasizing Xiaoning’s affluent family background, indicating that she had no need to take risks for money, and that she was unaware of the drugs hidden in the delivery.
The incident traces back to December 2020 when 21-year-old college student Xiaoning left her hometown in Hebei to travel to Jingzhou, Hubei, with her friend, Mage, to pick up a delivery for someone from Dehong, Yunnan.
They were promised a reward of 16,000 RMB and were repeatedly reminded to “be aware of the surroundings and people nearby.”
After confirming the presence of twelve shock absorbers in the delivery, as they were about to take a taxi to the designated location, they were arrested.
It turned out that the delivery had been found to contain over 4.4 kilograms of drugs (ketamine) along the way. The Guizhou police removed the drugs and allowed the delivery to continue, later tracking Xiaoning and Mage.
After a first trial, a retrial, and a second trial, Xiaoning and Mage were both convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to life in prison and a two-year suspended death sentence, respectively.
On November 11, Xiaoning’s father, Mr. Zhang, told the Chinese media that Xiaoning was unaware of the drugs in the delivery. They believe the sentence was too severe and have appealed to the Supreme Court, hoping for a reduced sentence for Xiaoning.
In response to this, netizens have been actively discussing the case: “What responsibility does the delivery company bear? Is there a specific crime of transporting drugs?” “Does it count as tampering with evidence when the police remove the drugs from the delivery?” “In the case of delivering drugs, involving the delivery company and several delivery personnel, how do you determine guilt?”
“This means that food delivery workers are also very dangerous, right? Food delivery drivers may not know what’s inside the package, and they might also be compromised if there are toxic substances inside!”
“It’s strange that two people went to pick up a package sent by a legitimate company, only to be told that the item was illegal. How did this item pass through various checkpoints to be delivered? The entire process was legal until the pick-up… Isn’t this unreasonable? If a drug dealer sends drugs to a judge’s doorstep, shouldn’t the judge also be severely punished?”
Some netizens argue that “How can you not know it’s drugs? Going to pick up a delivery and earning over ten thousand RMB, you would reasonably suspect it’s contraband.” “With a reward of over ten thousand, as long as your intelligence is normal, having seen crime movies, you would roughly know it’s a hot item.”
However, some argue that “It should not constitute a crime. First, there is no evidence to show that the defendant knew it was drugs, and it should not be assumed that she knew it was drugs simply because of the generous reward for pickup. Various valuable contraband items could offer handsome rewards for delivery, such as ivory and antelope horns from smuggling operations. Secondly, the shipper and the defendant are friends, so there is a certain element of mutual assistance and friendship, unlike drug dealers hiring random people to transport drugs.”