Chinese citizens asked to give up pensions for the country

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Recently, an open letter by a citizen calling for people donating their pensions to the country has attracted a nation-wide criticism in China.

The citizen, nicknamed Zhang Zhang, refers to himself as a student at the local senior colleague, posted a letter on June 14 on the official website of Social Security Bureau in Yinchun, east China's Jiangxi Province, suggesting citizens to release the government’s budget pressure by giving up their pensions.

The proposal suggests senior to give up their pensions. /Screenshot from the Social Security Bureau official website.

“To relieve pressure on this country, the municipal bureau of Human Resources and Social Security should strengthen its guidance and encourage locals to give up their pensions. Also, all of us ought to prioritize the interests of our country and sacrifice ourselves by voluntarily giving up our pensions.”

“Then we could put more money in the places where it is really needed, such as the Red Cross Society of China or some other charity groups.”

Also, the person suggested that the government could accept an application from the elderly group who want to give up their pensions since next year and award them with certificates. Meanwhile, the government should force citizens to do so by confiscating properties or even “kicking them out of this country.”

The letter soon became a trending topic on social media and has racked up more than 2.2 million views after it was screen captured and reposted on Weibo, a Twitter-like platform in China.

Unsurprisingly, the proposal elicited mockery, with netizens calling the person “an old lunatic.”

“It was antisocial and against humanity,” @Quanjigongyuan commented.

“Is it a kind of magic realism?” @Hesenbao said.

Then the city’s social security bureau intervened in this national-wide debate and responded on June 22. “According to the Social Insurance Law, people become eligible for pension benefits when they reach the statutory retirement age and have participated in the scheme for at least 15 years. Your suggestion was against the country’s law and was not feasible,” the bureau said.

“Our country has an obligation to provide pensions for the senior citizens. It’s legally groundless to penalize those who refuse to stop collecting their pensions,” Lu Quan, an associate professor from the School of Labor and Human Resources at Renmin University of China said.

Partly because of the economic challenges and the rapidly aging population, pension fund revenue has exceeded expenditure in some of the provinces in China. According to China's current pension system, the statutory retirement ages are: 60 years old for men and 50 years old for women who work in an enterprise, and 55 years old for women civil servants.

‍(Top image: VCG Photo)