A 71-year-old man in Changde, Hunan, received over 420,000 yuan (about US$59,000) in accumulated pension after 21 years living on the streets, with future monthly payments of about 3,700 yuan.
Tags:A 71-year-old Chinese man who spent 21 years living on the streets and collecting recyclable materials has finally received the pension he never knew he was entitled to — more than 420,000 yuan (about US$59,000) that had accumulated in his social security account over more than a decade.
Mr. Ru, from Zhuzhou in central China’s Hunan Province, was overcome with emotion when staff from a local social assistance center handed him his social security card on September 24.
“I’m so happy. I never imagined this could happen,” Ru said, thanking the rescue center and government departments that helped him recover the money.
Ru had worked for more than 30 years at a state-owned retail company after graduating from a technical school in the 1970s. But in the early 2000s, the company went bankrupt and he was laid off under a restructuring arrangement commonly described in China as “buying out years of service,” in which workers received a one-time compensation payment when their employment ended.
Ru soon spent the money and eventually became estranged from relatives after borrowing money from them. He began living on the streets and collecting discarded materials to survive.
For the next 21 years, he continued this lifestyle.
Things changed in the winter of 2024, when staff from the Changde Social Assistance Center encountered Ru during an outreach campaign for people living on the streets. He was staying in an abandoned building corridor and initially refused to move into a shelter.
Screenshot from 潇湘晨报
According to Wu Jinhui, a staff member who helped him, Ru was highly independent and stubborn. Workers began visiting him every week with supplies and continued talking to him for several months before he finally provided his personal information.
When officials checked his records, they made an unexpected discovery.
Ru had more than 30 years of employment history and had actually met the requirements to retire and receive a monthly pension of approximately 3,700 yuan (US$520). He had been eligible to retire as early as 2015.
Screenshot from 潇湘晨报
Because he had never applied for the pension, the payments had accumulated in his account for more than 10 years, eventually reaching over 420,000 yuan.
Ru had believed that after being laid off, he had to continue making pension contributions himself until retirement age before he could receive anything. Because he had no money to make those payments, he simply gave up on the idea of receiving a pension.
Chinese social security rules provide that people who have participated in basic pension insurance and accumulated at least 15 years of contributions can receive a basic pension after reaching the statutory retirement age.
Ru's case, however, was complicated. Processing his retirement involved records from different cities and multiple government departments. For more than a year, assistance workers repeatedly traveled between Changde and Zhuzhou to verify his employment history and complete the necessary procedures.
On September 24, Ru finally received the social security card containing his accumulated pension. His future monthly pension payments will also be deposited into the account, and officials said his medical insurance benefits would be arranged as well. Staff warned him to protect the card carefully and remain alert to financial scams.
Screenshot from 潇湘晨报
Despite finally receiving a substantial sum of money, Ru has not yet changed his lifestyle completely. He is still living in a building corridor and collecting recyclables, although he says he now plans to rent a room.
Ru has lived in Changde for around 13 years and says he has grown attached to the city. For now, he plans to remain there for several more years before eventually returning to his hometown, where his younger sister still lives.
Ru’s story also raises a question relevant to the millions of foreigners working in China: can foreign employees receive a Chinese pension?
Yes. Foreign nationals who are legally employed in China and have the required work and residence documents generally participate in China's social insurance system. Employers are required to register eligible foreign employees for social insurance, including basic pension insurance, and both employers and employees contribute according to local rules.
Generally, a foreign employee must have accumulated at least 15 years of contributions to China's basic pension insurance for employees and reach the applicable statutory retirement age. The standard retirement ages are currently 60 for men and 55 for women, although local or industry-specific rules may apply.
Foreign employees who leave China before retirement do not necessarily lose their contributions. Their individual social insurance account can generally be retained, with contribution periods continuing to accumulate if they later return to work in China.
Alternatively, eligible foreigners can apply in writing to terminate the social insurance relationship and receive the balance of their individual account as a lump sum, subject to the applicable rules.
China also has bilateral or multilateral social security agreements with several countries, including Japan, Germany, South Korea, Canada, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands, which can exempt eligible workers from certain contributions for specified periods.
Source:
Editor: Yuna
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