With China set to revise its retirement age closer to western norms for the first time in 60 years, heated public reaction returns to deeper issues including unlimited state power.

Translated by Probe International

A new report revealing China’s state-run pension fund faces depletion by 2035 has ignited heated discussion among Chinese netizens. Some have expressed feelings of betrayal, criticizing the high monthly pensions current retirees receive, while others fear the fund will collapse before they retire. [See Public Anger Grows Over China Pension Crisis].

Voice of America reports economists are calling for urgent reforms to address the long-standing issues within China’s pension system. They warn that the current crisis will only worsen as China’s population continues to age, the workforce shrinks, and birth rates remain low. China’s pension fund for urban workers forms the backbone of the country’s state-run retirement system. According to a report released last week by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), the fund had reserves of 4.8 trillion yuan by the end of 2018, representing only 5.3% of China’s GDP.

Bankruptcy Is Already Visible

China established its pension fund in 1997. The CASS report also predicts that while the fund will continue to grow and peak at 6.99 trillion RMB by 2027, it will then start to decline, and eventually become exhausted by 2035.

The report estimates that by 2025, the gap between the fund’s revenue and expenditure could reach 11 trillion yuan. This would mean that for every retired citizen, there would only be one working person contributing to the fund, compared to two people currently.

The financial unsustainability of the pension system has caused growing concern, particularly among younger generations.

On the Chinese social media platform Weibo, a young tech worker lamented that despite working long hours, he still couldn’t guarantee pension security when he retired. He wrote, “Is the purpose of working 996 (Chinese Internet slang for a 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six-day work week) to work ourselves to death before retirement and thus perfectly solve the pension shortage?”

A Privileged Few

Many others have questioned why some retirees, particularly government employees, seem to receive disproportionately high pensions.

One Weibo user wrote, “I have a friend who drives a bus and earns just over 3,000 RMB a month, but his father-in-law, a retired government worker, gets 5,000 RMB. It’s ridiculous. The retirement benefits for civil servants are way too high.”

Xie Tian, an associate professor of marketing at the University of South Carolina, said the biggest problem facing China’s pension system is its management. For example, ordinary workers may receive 2,000 to 3,000 RMB per month on retirement, while government employees can obtain between 6,000 and 10,000 RMB.

This huge disparity, said Xie, has fueled increasing dissatisfaction and anger among the public.

Discrimination Against Farmers and Migrant Workers

To make matters worse, Xie noted China’s pension system discriminates against farmers and migrant workers—those most in need of a social safety net.

Official statistics show that by 2017, farmers and migrant workers accounted for 287 million people, nearly 21% of China’s total population.

A farmer surnamed Zhou from Hubei province said it was unfair that farmers were excluded from the pension system.

He explained that most farmers and migrant workers earn low wages and don’t have extra money to contribute to commercial pension funds, even if such options exist. “I’m worried about what I’ll do when I retire,” he told VOA.

Xie Tian believes that China should act quickly to implement reform proposals to address the flaws in the poorly designed pension system.

Reform Proposals

He suggested that the pension system should be expanded to cover all citizens. Raising the retirement age or increasing pension contributions are two potential ways to ease the financial burden on the pension fund.

However, both solutions could spark public outcry and threaten the legitimacy of the Communist Party’s rule.

In China, the retirement age is 60 for men and 55 for women. However, men generally must retire by 65, and women by 60.

China’s social security regulations mandate that employers must contribute 20% of an employee’s salary to the national pension fund, while employees must contribute an additional 8%.

Last year, Zhong Wei, a finance professor at Beijing Normal University, identified the pension crisis and elderly care as one of five “gray rhinos”—major threats facing China this year. Other dangers include falling wages and declining fiscal revenues.

Reuters recently reported that Beijing approved the first foreign insurance company to operate pension insurance in China last month, with more international insurers expected to enter the country’s $1.6 trillion pension market.

However, Xie Tian is skeptical that opening the market to foreign insurers will help alleviate China’s pension crisis.

“Most people can’t afford private pensions,” Xie said. “In this context, foreign insurance companies will likely target the relatively well-off. This won’t do much to ease China’s pension crisis.”

According to the influential X account ‘Teacher Li is not Your Teacher’ in a post reproduced below: “Recently, the topic of postponing the retirement age to 65 has triggered heated debate and opposition among netizens. Currently on Weibo, the topic of ‘delaying retirement’ has been blocked!”

China to Implement Gradual Delay in Retirement Age by 2025

On Sept. 13, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress passed a policy of “gradual deferral of the mandatory retirement age.” Beginning on Jan. 1, 2025, the legal retirement age will rise over the next 15 years in stages: for male employees the age of retirement will increase from 60 to 63, and for female employees from 50 and 55 to 55 and 58.

The new regulations also state that as of Jan. 1, 2030, the minimum contribution period for employees to receive a monthly basic pension will gradually increase from 15 to 20 years, rising by six months each year. After meeting the minimum contribution period, employees can voluntarily choose early retirement, with a maximum of three years in advance, but female employees cannot retire before the age of 50 or 55, and male employees cannot retire before 60.

After the new regulations became public, terms related to “delayed retirement” topped online search trends. However, on several major Chinese social media platforms, comment sections for articles related to the topic appeared to have been purged of negative responses, with only unanimous “support” remaining. On X (formerly Twitter), posters pointed out: “Negative comments inside the wall have been completely erased. Yes, you can only see positive feedback,” with others sarcastically adding, “The whole country is celebrating delayed retirement.” [See “Unlimited Power but Limited Responsibility?” The CCP Is Criticized for Delaying the Retirement Age]

Those Most Affected by the New Policy

The group most impacted by the new policy, reports Radio Free Asia (RFA), are those over 45 who have already contributed to social security for 15 years.

Jiang, a 48-year-old resident of Beijing and an internet company employee, stated that on the same day the retirement delay was announced, she received a layoff notice from her company. Originally, she would have been eligible to apply for her pension in just over a year, but now, according to the new regulations, she will have to wait an additional 12 months before she can claim it.

Chinese current affairs commentator Shenkun Cai told Radio Free Asia that the “dual-track system” (a system that pays civil servants higher pensions than ordinary workers) has been a subject of discussion in China for 20 years. The new delayed retirement policy does not address the issue, which Cai believes represents the most harmful aspect of China’s pension system.

According to Cai, the Chinese government has avoided talking about dual-track reform while delaying the retirement age because “they can’t afford to.”

“The current system,” he explained, “still relies on the so-called interest groups, tied together, sacrificing the interests of the vast majority of people. These people have little say and cannot influence policy.”

Regarding the minimum contribution period required to receive a pension, Cai argued that this regulation could have an even greater impact than the delayed retirement age. Many freelancers, especially those over 45, struggle to find stable work and will have to pay into the system out of pocket to meet the minimum contribution period. If retirement no longer represents a predictable benefit but becomes a burden, he expects that many will choose to stop paying into the system altogether. [See China’s New Regulations on Delaying Retirement Have Been Implemented. Where Is Your Pension?]

Scholars Criticize: When It’s Time to Shoulder Pension Responsibility, China Turns to the West

Qin Hui, a retired professor from Tsinghua University’s history department, expressed his views on the delayed retirement policy in his latest video.

“Some people,” he told viewers, “only compare with the West when the government wants to avoid responsibility. When Western countries extend retirement ages, we do the same, saying the government can’t take on such a heavy pension burden.”

See Qin Hui’s YouTube response below.

Qin continues:

“In Western countries, limited governments can only take on limited responsibilities, but here, you have unlimited power—so why should your responsibility be limited? When it comes to responsibility, you compare with others (the West), but when it comes to power, why don’t you make the same comparison? If you can’t shoulder that much responsibility, what right do you have to that much power?”

“You have no limits on tax collection, no limits on monopolizing land profits, and now you’re even reaching power into people’s wombs, telling them that ‘one child is good because the government will take care of pensions.’ But when it’s time to take on the pension responsibility, suddenly you want to learn from the West and delay retirement,” Qin said. “Why not talk about ‘Chinese characteristics’ now? Reaching into people’s wombs is a Chinese characteristic, so shouldn’t unlimited pension responsibility be a Chinese characteristic too?”

In response, one netizen commented, “Professor Qin’s view on delayed retirement cuts right to the heart of the issue of imbalanced power and responsibility.” Another added, “Qin Hui is spot on! The greater the power, the greater the responsibility. Wanting power without responsibility—that’s just rogue behavior.” One user quipped, “Qin never outright calls them scumbags, he just proves that they are scumbags.” Another wrote, “Well said! You have to use this kind of logic to tear down their façade.”

Some netizens also criticized the CCP government: “The CCP doesn’t care about ordinary people’s lives, only about how much wealth they can squeeze out of them.” Another wrote, “When has the CCP ever been reasonable? Their shamelessness is beyond measure.” A third added, “From the day it was founded, the CCP has been a government and party of lies, gaining support through deception. Such an evil cult will never treat the people as human beings.”