About five years ago, Tian Dan, a rookie delivery rider in Shanghai, found herself weeping by the roadside, overwhelmed by the labyrinthine streets of one of the world's largest cities. Little did she imagine that she would one day receive national recognition for her perseverance and growth.

Last week, the 37-year-old was awarded an honor for outstanding female role models in China, ahead of this year's International Women's Day, which fell last Sunday.

Hailing from a village in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Tian left for Shanghai in 2021 and signed up as a delivery rider in the vast metropolis.

Her career did not get off to a smooth start. As a newcomer, she often found herself lost in the city's mazelike roads. "I once cried on the phone with my family and wondered whether I should quit," she recalls.

Yet she persevered. Through steady effort, Tian mastered the most efficient routes and built an outstanding service record. Gradually, her perspective on the job transformed.

"To be honest, at first I was just in it for the money," she says. "But now I've found a sense of purpose. It's about helping people, making their lives a little easier."

In recent years, many women like Tian have joined new forms of employment, such as delivery riding and ride-hailing, drawn by the flexibility and opportunities for self-fulfillment. Data from Meituan, a leading on-demand delivery platform, shows that the number of female delivery riders earning income on the platform grew from 517,000 to 701,000 between 2022 and 2024.

Aspiring to better herself intellectually, Tian studied digital media art and design through an online university program. The learning process subtly changed her life. She began posting short videos on social media platforms, documenting her daily routine as a delivery rider.

While Tian navigates the bustling city, Yao Fang, another recipient of the same national honor, has spent over a decade transforming Muzhai Community, a once-impoverished village in Southwest China's Guizhou province, into a popular tourist destination.

To pave the way for tourism, Yao rallied residents to clean up the village. Despite initial skepticism, she walked the streets with tongs in hand, picking up litter day after day. Touched by her persistence, villagers began calling her "Secretary of Tongs" and joined in the effort.

Building on a cleaner environment, Yao encouraged residents to build entertainment facilities and renovate idle homes into guesthouses, aiming to draw more visitors and fuel the local economy.

Her initiatives paid off. Xiong Yan, one of the first to open a guesthouse, now earns an annual net income of over 60,000 yuan ($8,676). She credited Yao for the job opportunities and higher incomes, describing her as a "reliable" leader.

Today, women in China enjoy unprecedented opportunities to chase their dreams across various sectors. Some, like Yao, choose to root themselves in advancing rural vitalization, while others push the boundaries of science and technology and reach for the stars.

Zhang Yuhua, a scientist at the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, has played a key role in multiple breakthroughs over her 30-plus-year career, from China's lunar probes to Mars missions.

"The harder we work, the more we gain, both for ourselves and for our country," Zhang says.

Her belief in aligning personal dreams with national progress is shared by Xu Shixiao, an Olympic canoeing champion and deputy to the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's national legislature.

Xu says China's development and support for sports have helped athletes pursue their goals, citing the country's best-ever overseas performance at the Paris Olympics as an example.

Xu views her responsibilities as an Olympic champion and an NPC deputy in practical terms: competing for the country and listening to the public to reflect their concerns.

To attend the fourth session of the 14th NPC, which is ongoing in Beijing, she prepared a proposal calling for the activation of underused urban spaces to build pocket sports parks, turning corners and small sites into fitness spaces for residents.