After the national “Two Sessions” this year, the smiles of rural people tend to be bigger. Each person’s pension increases by 20 yuan a month.

20 yuan, what does it mean? It may seem trivial to many, but it means a lot to a farmer not so rich.

“20 yuan a month, an increase of 240 yuan a year. Based on current prices, you can buy 80 kilograms of rice or 20 liters of cooking oil,” said Han Xiaohua, director of Department of the Elder Care, Work-related Injury and Insurance of Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security of Jiaxing. The pension for each urban and rural resident is just 200 yuan per month on average in the whole country, so an increase of 20 yuan a month means an increase of 10%, which is similar to the growth rate of the period when urban workers’ pensions achieved a rapid increase.

Someone says main differences between urban and rural areas lie in the elderly care of residents.

In the past, being 60 years old was a hurdle for farmers. After they worked hard and was 60 years old, they faced a dilemma of “retirement”: there was no guarantee for their later life. “It’s different now. If a farmer is too old to do farm work, he’ll get a pension like urban residents. Farmers will get pensions when they 60 years old now,” said Mao Hualiang, a farmer of Xindai Town, Pinghu City. 

The elderly care is narrowing constantly the gap between urban and rural areas of Jiaxing.

A high-price “red book”: the change seems to have happened overnight.

One day of October 2007, Jiang Lianying, then secretary of the general Party branch of Starlight Village, suddenly knocked at the door of Mao Hualiang,-head of a villager group of Starlight Village. “Mr. Mao, an old-age insurance program is going to be launched in Jiaxing. Ours will be a pilot village. Let ours be the pilot villager group first, is that OK?”

Mao Hualiang had learned the news on the pension reform before, but out of his expectation, his village became a pilot village.

“It is a good policy, but more than 10,000 yuan will be paid for the old-age insurance program. It is an ‘astronomical figure’ for our villagers. Moreover, it is a long-term investment. Will the villagers support it?” Mao Lianghua fell into trouble after discussions with Jiang Lianying about the old-age insurance policy. He lost confidence in any form of insurance projects because many rural commercial insurance programs had failed earlier. The word “insurance” was the last word he would like to listen to. It was difficult to persuade villagers to accept this insurance program.

The key progress was made at a “householder meeting” of the village.

In early November that year, the wind was colder with the coming of winter. The representatives of over 30 households gathered at Mao Hualiang’s home to discuss this new old-age insurance program.

“If you are 16 to 60 years old, you need pay 680 yuan for the program a year for 15 years; if you are over 60 years old, you have to pay 10,622 yuan for that. What’s more, it is one-time payment, but you can get the pension of 113 yuan every month from the age of 60. The money you pay for this program will be paid back in seven or eight years at the latest. That is to say, you will be supported by the country,” Jiang Lianying made a patient introduction of this new old-age insurance policy to every one present in the dim light. “Please rest assured that the money you have paid for the program will always be yours...”

Everyone listened attentively, seeming to understand what he had said, but meanwhile full of doubts.

“We believe you, but we really can’t gather so much money.”

“What if I put money in, but the program fails in the end?”

“Is this just lip service?”

...

Jiang Lianying really wanted to know the answers to those questions.

Soon after, Sun Xianlong, then secretary of the CPC Pinghu Municipal Committee, came to Starlight Village for a research, and Jiang Lianying reported to him the villagers’ concerns. Sun Xianliang’s words reassured all: those over 60 years having made one-time payment could get pensions the next month; based on the real conditions of some families, the payment base of different age groups was adjusted to three levels; the annual growth mechanism was ensured by the government... These “answers” were conveyed at the following “householder meetings” again and again, and began to work to some degree.

The 65-year-old villager Cao Youdi and his wife drew 8,000 yuan  from the bank and scraped together 10,622 yuan. Another villager Mao Acong also participated in the program. “I am a retiree of the factory, so I can get the pension, but I’d like to make my wife get the pension too. When we are old enough, both of us can get pensions every month, which will alleviate our children’s burden actually,” said he. 

At least 20 householder meetings were held to discuss this old-age insurance program. At the last meeting, 66 families signed on the first policies of the rural old-age insurance program of the country. After they paid, they all got a “red book” (a pension certificate), full of happiness.

All villagers were available to the old-age insurance program.

After one-time payment, Cao Youdi walked to a credit cooperative 2.5 kilometers away the next month to get the pension. “I really get my pension,” he was overjoyed.

The governments honored their words. The welfare (the pension) greatly inspired the people. In less than a year, 80% villagers of Starlight Village participated in the old-age insurance program.

In those days, the village was filled with an adapted advertising slogan: I will refuse all gifts for the Spring Festival except pensions” in Starlight Village, but in other pilot villages there were no such progress.

Jiang Lianying and Mao Hualiang soon became “stars” and shared their experiences on CCTV, “The key point is to untie the ‘knot’ in people’s heart to make them feel governments’ sincerity,” said they.

Most importantly, the old-age insurance program was available to all.

Firstly, the program was open to special groups. How to ensure the right of low-income families to participate in the program?

Jiang Lianying first thought of local enterprises. In those days, “encouraging industrial development to help agriculture” was a hot topic, and there were many enterprises in Starlight Village. So Jiang Lianying and village cadres visited those enterprises many times to communicate their managers on helping low-come families participate in the old-age insurance program, and received positive responses. For example, Xingfa Luggage Co., Ltd. subsidized more than 10 low-income families to participate in the old-age insurance program.

Of course, just enterprises’ subsidization could not settle all problems. Later, favorable policies were issued in Jiaxing and set up a special annual payment standard of 500 yuan a person for low-income groups, extremely poor people and the disabled. The payment those individuals should bear was subsidized by local finance in accordance with regulations.

Why was it called the old-age insurance program for urban and rural residents since it mainly benefited farmers?

At the very beginning, the participants were farmers, but during the implementation process of the program, many urban residents were found to fail to participate in any social insurance programs, so they were included into the urban and rural residential insurance system later. Xu Hui, an official of Xiuzhou District and also a witness to this urban and rural old-age insurance program has worked in this field for more than 30 years. In her memory, Starlight Village was a pilot village of Jiaxing, started the relevant work earliest in Jiaxing and made the greatest efforts. Jiaxing, as a pilot city, paid more attention to urban residents who did not participate in any social insurance programs.  

The old-age insurance program focuses on balanced development of urban and rural areas and keeps available to all residents, especially to the residents of primary-level units, so it is extremely complicated. “If the old-age care is compared to a wooden bucket, the old-age insurance program is launched to lengthen its shortest planks. Prior to the urban and rural residents’ old-age insurance program, only the staff of public institutions and enterprises, and farmers whose farmland was expropriated and other specific groups could participate in social insurance programs. According to our calculation, this insurance policy provides an ‘umbrella’ for nearly one million urban and rural residents of Jiaxing,” said Xu Hui.

By 2021, to participate in social insurance programs had been widely accepted, and 97.26% of the registered population in Jiaxing had participated in the basic old-age insurance program, and Jiaxing had become the first city with almost all of its residents having participated in the old-age insurance program. Farmers benefited the gains of urbanization and the social insurance system covering urban and rural areas was established then.

The practice in Starlight Village soon became popular.

Initially, the minimum payment standard for the old-age insurance program was 450 yuan, much higher than the national pilot standard, i.e. 100 yuan. Many people felt puzzled.

So Xu Hui received a lot of complaint calls from the participants of the insurance program, “Some were greatly furious,” said Xu Hui.

In face of the applicants’ confusion, Xu Hui answered as follows, “We adhere to the principle of ‘higher payment, higher subsidies.”

As time went by, the gains became apparent.

On the first page of Cao Youdi’s “red book” (the record for him to get his pensions”, the benchmark pension is 113 yuan a month. One year or two years later, it achieved an increase of five yuan, then ten yuan... Within just 17 years, his pensions increased for the tenth time.

Today, his pensions a year reach more than 7,000 yuan. “Now I am old. I can’t do farm work anymore. The pension is my life-saving money. Unless I get sick, I can’t use it up.” The old man cherishes the pension with the most simple words. In the past, he gathered almost all the money the family had, i.e. more than 10,000 yuan to put it into government account, but it enlarged like a snow ball, and now it is a guarantee for his happy old age.

“Actually, it is an evidence that the urban and rural old-age insurance program is greatly beneficial to the people,” said Han Xiaohua. “Let’s make an analysis. On the one hand, rural residents’ incomes are higher in Jiaxing, so they can pay more for the program; on the other hand, a higher payment brings about a higher subsidy. It is attractive in the whole country, which is an effective way to stimulate people’s enthusiasm to participate in the insurance program. Today, some farmers’ pensions in Jiaxing reach more than 1,000 yuan a month, which has greatly narrowed the gap of the pensions between rural and urban residents.”

Additionally, there was no uniform pension growth rate in Jiaxing. Since 2022, the growth rate of rural per capita disposable income has been determined as that of basic pensions, creating a condition for farmers to fully enjoy the gains of reform and development, further narrowing the gap between urban and rural areas, according to Xu.

Let the elderly enjoy their old age, and the old-age care service should be taken seriously.

Take Xu Hui’s work unit then as an example. There were just five staff members in the unit, but each of them had to provide services for about 65,000 people. Inevitably, one or two would be left out. But now, that will not happen again. Internet and big data have extended  government services to primary-level units, and in each town (sub-district) there is a social insurance service center. Residents can participate in the old-age insurance program nearby and draw their pensions just with their fingers,” she Xu.

It is interesting that the urban and rural residents’ old-age insurance system has been expanded to the whole country. Now it has attracted nearly 600 million to participate, and the actual number of the insured who get pensions nearly 200 million. Today in Jiaxing, with the rapid integrated urban-rural development and full employment of rural labor forces, the participants of the old-age insurance program have dropped from more than 960,000 to more than 600,000, but the per capita pension in Jiaxing is far more than that of other regions.

The old-age insurance practice then in Starlight Village has become popular nationwide and is helping the people march towards common prosperity.

Many young people may have never heard the “red book”(a symbol of the old-age insurance program). With time passing by, it has been updated, and now it has withdrawn from the historical stage, but when the reporter saw the 85-year-old Cao Youdi carefully take out his “red book” that had been treasured for years, the reporter found it’s of great significance to the farmers then.

In rural areas, the old-age care model based on farmland and  “raising children” is popular.

Why were permanent urban residence certificates more popular than those of rural areas? The main reason is that urban residents could enjoy good pensions and medical treatment, etc., but the elderly in rural areas could not when they were 60 years old.

The birth of the “red book” completely changed that situation. It was an unprecedented and groundbreaking reform, found a new road for integrated urban-rural development, and steadily supported the happy old age of the elderly of rural areas. The urban and rural old-age insurance program benefits farmers most and makes the farmers-the biggest population of China enjoy the gains of the reform, so it is an unprecedented move to break the barriers against urban-rural balanced development, according to Chen Shida, former president of Academy of Labor Security Research.