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Lijia Zhang
Opinion
Lijia Zhang

Without pension reform, China is leaving its rural elderly out in the cold

What looks like a side-effect of ‘coal-to-gas’ heating programmes is really a structural issue: rural pensions are not enough to live on

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A worker sweeps snow in the town of Zhengding in north China’s Hebei province on January 5, 2020. Photo: Xinhua
Lijia Zhang
Lijia Zhang is a rocket-factory worker turned social commentator, and the author of a novel, Lotus.

“Rural heating problems in Hebei cannot wait any longer” declared a recent report in Farmers’ Daily. It described a disturbing reality in parts of northern China: elderly villagers who would rather shiver through freezing temperatures than turn on their heaters, because they simply cannot afford the cost. For many urban readers, this may sound implausible. For millions of rural elderly, it is routine.

On the surface, the problem appears to be a side effect of China’s well-intentioned environmental reforms. Beginning in the early 2010s, large-scale “coal-to-gas” heating programmes were rolled out across northern China to reduce air pollution. Rural households were banned from burning coal and required to switch to cleaner, but far more expensive, natural gas.

In its early years, generous government subsidies cushioned the transition. Over time, those subsidies have been reduced, even as gas prices have risen. For elderly farmers living on pensions of roughly 100 to 200 yuan (US$28.65) a month – barely enough to cover basic necessities – heating has become unaffordable.

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