Two things have become "daily ritual" for 80-year-old He Qingliang in a mountainous village he calls home in Bazhong County in Southwest China's Sichuan Province.

One is chatting with his 78-year-old wife, Li Xianglian musing about the old days when several generations lived under one roof.

Another finds the elderly couple steadying each other and walking to the highest point from their shabby house up the uneven village path. From there, they believe their only grandson toiling among millions of migrant workers nearly 2,000 kilometres away in the Chinese capital may appear on the only path linking the village to the outside world.

"We are anxious every day to see our grandson's unexpected return," said the old couple, who have lived as "empty nesters" about a kilometre away from their only son and his wife since 1994. That is when their grandson He Hongzhou and his wife left the village and started earning their living as construction workers in Beijing.

For generations in the county's isolated Hejialiang Village, the old couple has lived a very simple life and even the image of a bus is very distant. Now in their 70s and 80s, they still work hard on their plots farming the land.

"We love farming. But it's so sad for us that the younger generations seem to be vanishing from our lives," said He, whose village is dwindling in population as villagers in their prime age flock in droves to cities to earn their daily bread.

In 1980s, about 250 villagers were living in the village, one of the poorest in China. Now, only 180-odd, mainly children and the elderly, remain.

In recent days, the old couple have been bedridden by the flu. Being so ill, He and his wife couldn't help but worry about the cost of medicines.

"When the weather turns with the season, we are prone to catching colds and the medicine is too expensive for us to afford," said He.

"We can basically make ends meet if we don't fall ill."

The couple plant rice, wheat and corn as daily bread and raise two pigs every year as source of pocket money.

"If we become sick, we are afraid that death will very soon fall upon us," said He's wife, adding that her generation of seniors has gradually passed away.

Their only son, aged 60, and daughter-in-law, live nearly the same life as theirs.

Like their father and mother, the son and his wife said they also missed the "old days" when many elderly could still count on their children for support, especially when young population stayed at home and people all had relatively large extended families.

Most of the time, their wrinkled faces are careworn they only light up during the Spring Festival.

"The happiest thing is that time when family members get together during the Spring Festival," said the son. Without a pension and Medicare system in place, the burden is on the shoulders of the only grandson in the family He Hongzhou who takes nearly one-fifth of his 20,000 yuan (US$2,400) from his annual income every year to help cover medical expenditures for the four "empty nesters."

"If the elderly catch severe illnesses, we cannot afford to stay at hospital for several days; otherwise, we will fall into absolute poverty because of the large amounts charged for medical treatment," said the grandson.

He and his wife can earn up to 2,000 yuan (US$240) per month in Beijing. But after deducting tuition expenditures on their daughter's school in Beijing plus the family's daily necessities, there is little money that can be saved for other future uses.

He's family mirrors the real situation both for farmers in rural areas and for those farmers-turned-workers in cities.

Due to a lack of a sufficient pension system, families are still the last resort for most rural aging seniors. People have to toil not only for their children, but also for their elderly relatives.

The phenomenon that one young couple has to support four elderly parents have become increasingly common in China, as the only-children generation produced by the country's family-planning rules have grown up and set up their own families.

Like He Hongzhou and his wife, many younger-generation people have to support grandparents for quite some time, while medical charges, living standards, as well as people's life expectancies, are all on the rise.

The aging problem in rural regions is more grave than that in urban communities. The latest statistics indicate that currently, 10.92 per cent of China's rural population is over the age of 60, 1.24 percentage points higher than in urban areas.

However, a social security system is not yet in place in most rural regions, while the majority of the urban elderly are already covered by the system.

According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, only 5 per cent of the elderly population in rural China can benefit from pensions, and they are meagre in most cases. The majority of the Chinese elderly have to depend on themselves, or generally depend on their children after the age of 70.

Researchers said without a sound pension system, social problems are inevitable.

Tao Liqun, a Beijing-based China Research Centre for Aging Science researcher, said providing social security for elderly farmers is the government's responsibility.

"It's an unavoidable part of building China into an all-round well-off society," said Tao.

The Chinese Government is stepping up efforts to ensure farmers live a better life, said Tao, who regards the government's scrapping of agricultural taxes as a big step towards that goal.

Tao suggests that the government should earmark more from its coffers every year to help farmers set up their own pension savings accounts.

"They are entitled to enjoy the same benefits as those who live in the cities," said Tao.

Tao said that in recent years he has visited many rural regions where aged people with long life spans are living. "Some of them are not living in decent situations."

From another aspect, a comprehensive social security umbrella in rural areas can enhance healthy development of the nation's economy, said Tao.

"If there is no such a system, farmers tend to save money for future needs rather than spend it, which leads to a dormant rural marketplace," said Tao.

"There are many reasons but the list of solutions is still short," said Tao, urging the government to set up innovative pension models. In some rural areas, the aging problem is expected to become more severe in the next 20-30 years.

Since China embraced market economy in the late 1970s, a growing number of farmers, including He Hongzhou and his wife, have left their rural hometowns for major cities to seek a better life.

He's hometown, Sichuan, with a population of more than 87 million, is one of China's most populous provinces. More than 80 per cent of the residents are farmers.

"Because of such a large population and the small per capita land, we can never expect to increase our earnings solely by working on the soil," said He, who added that finding a non-agricultural job was the only viable way out.

He's province "exported" about 15 million rural labourers last year, creating total wealth of 57.6 billion yuan (US$6.9 billion), a year-on-year growth of more than 20 per cent, Sichuan Governor Zhang Zhongwei said recently.

Problems then emerged as the migrants were denied equal access to education, housing and other social rights in many cities where a residency-oriented social security system is still in place.

"The government is helping us solve the problems by providing more training and offering more job information," said He.

"But I'm still wondering who can feed and support us if we become ill or reach retirement age."

He has many reasons to raise such questions.

After 10 years of labour in Beijing, the family of three cannot afford an apartment but still shares a low-rent room, which neighbours sky-rise apartments and luxurious villas.

"Father, mother, father-in-law, mother-in-law, maybe grandmother, grandfather... Just count, how many elderly will need support from my daughter 20-25 years from now," said He, whose daughter is still a primary school child.

"I really think the government should act before it's too late," he lamented.

Residents, migrants face different retirement

The funds invested within an endowment are enough to satisfy the pension needs of retired people in Guangzhou, capital of South China's Guangdong Province, according to the Guangzhou Labour and Social Security Bureau.

People insured against old age in Guangzhou number 1.89 million, with pensioners now at a level of 490,000.

"We do not see a shortage of funds," said Chen Min, an official of Guangzhou Labour and Social Security Bureau. But he refused to disclose the exact amount of the city's endowment.

According to bureau statistics from last year, a retired person receives an average monthly pension of 934 yuan (US$112).

"We have to pay out 5.5 billion yuan (US$662 million) a year in the pension programme," said Chen.

Thanks to a well-balanced endowment system in Guangzhou, Chen said there will not be a deficit, with about 6 billion yuan (US$722 million) in funds from insurance premiums added to the endowment each year.

In Guangzhou, about 25,000 people become pensioners each year. Chen said another 270 million yuan (US$32 million) is needed annually to satisfy the increased retired population.

"We are confident we will be able to handle it," the executive said.

The cheerful situation within Guangzhou's endowment programme does not prove there are no problems within the city's social pension system, however.

Pension funds come mostly from State-owned or large-scale private enterprises. A large number of small and middle-sized companies do not have retirement schemes for their ageing employees, Xie Yingjian, a bureau official said during a recent conference arranged by the Multinational Corporate Club of Guangzhou.

In addition, Xie said more and more State-owned enterprises are turning into privately owned firms, resulting in fewer fund sources for retirement plans.

He said in such firms younger workers are not yet properly concerned about money issues in their old age.

Du Ping, 25, works at a logistics company in Guangzhou. Her monthly income is about 3,500 yuan (US$421).

She said she does not even know if her company has a retirement system.

"I am only 25, and retirement is far away," she said. "If I had to pay a part of my salary for pension insurance, I would rather not to be insured, since my salary is so slim."

Xie admitted that some of young people do not attach importance to social insurance. Many private companies take advantage of that by transferring money that they should use for insurance directly to employees' salaries so employees feel good about their larger incomes.

Chen Min said the bureau has the responsibility of promoting the importance of retirement systems to Guangzhou's residents.

He said retired people cannot receive pensions unless they have paid insurance premiums for more than 15 years.

Since the social pension system was not introduced in Guangzhou until 1985, people who are older than 40 now have difficulty in participating. China's standard retirement age is 55 for women, and 60 for men.

On the other hand, Guangzhou is a city with a large number of migrant workers, whose official residency is registered elsewhere.

The bureau said the number of registered migrant workers in Guangzhou is over 1 million.

Chen said such workers are allowed to insure against old age as long as their employers contribute part of the premium.

"The number of years set for migrant workers to receive pensions is the same," Chen said. "If they are insured for over 15 years, they will receive a sum of money each month as their pension after they retire, even though they may not live in Guangzhou."

Although migrant workers have the right to enjoy endowment insurance, most of their employers simply ignore the programme.

Zeng is a migrant worker from Henan Province. The 22-year-old man is working in a restaurant in Guangzhou.

He said he never heard of pension insurance. And he guessed that his employers have not placed any money in the insurance programme for him and his co-workers.

Chen did not provide an estimated number of insured migrant workers, but he acknowledged there are still lots of work to do to promote the policy.

(China Daily March 28, 2005)