The Parlous State of the Pension System in the Northeast

Among the conditions some 8,000 Heilongjiang teachers who went on strike in November had before they would return to work, one stood out: they wanted a refund of their contributions to the social insurance fund from which money will be drawn to cover their pensions.

Teachers in urban Zhaodong, a city in the northeastern province, were required by the local government to contribute into the fund in 2001. Those in rural areas started payments two years later. As of December 2013, more than 70 percent of workers at government-backed organizations in Zhaodong have started paying into the fund as private company workers do.