China's social security fund is stable, and there is no problem with insurance payments, the central government announced on Monday.But the rapid rate at which the average age is growing poses major challenges to the sustainable development of the country's insurance system, You Jun, vice-minister of human resources and social security, said at a news conference.Surpluses in the five major social security insurance programs - including pensions and medical care - have steadily grown in recent years despite increasing expenditures, he said.Total surpluses reached 7.6 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion) last year, compared with 6.6 trillion yuan in 2016, You said.Pension insurance spending for retirees from companies reached 2.86 trillion yuan last year - up 10.4 percent over 2016 but still managing to leave a yearly surplus of about 420 billion yuan, he said.The total insurance surplus reached 4.12 trillion yuan as of the end of the year, enough for payments of pensions to company retirees for 17.3 months, he said.Of the five insurance types, which all enterprises in China are obliged to pay for their employees, pensions, medical and unemployment insurance portions are paid by employers and employees together, while insurance premiums related to work injuries and maternity are paid solely by employers.Although the social security fund in general is stable, deficits exist in certain places, You said.Pension fund surpluses in 2016 in 13 provincial regions, including Jiangxi, Hainan and Hubei provinces, are not enough to sustain payments for one year, because expenditures are growing faster than income, according to the ministry.Anticipating increased payments into the insurance fund, various government departments have taken steps to ensure sustainability, including investing reserves for profit and acquiring more government investment in the fund, You said.In 2016, governments at all levels invested 1 trillion yuan in social security, accounting for 5.72 percent of the country's total expenditures, he said.Considering the fact that government expenditures on social security accounts are more than 20 percent in some countries, such as the United States and Germany, China still has potential to invest more, he said.The number of people aged 60 or above on the Chinese mainland reached 241 million as of the end of last year, accounting for 17.3 percent of the total population, compared with 16.7 percent in 2016, the National Bureau of Statistics reported in January.Zhu Junsheng, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, said that pension payments will face increasing pressure, and the growth in pensions for retirees will continue to slow.Commercial insurance should play a greater role for a more balanced development of pension insurance, he said. wristbands canadacustom silicone bracelets canadarubber bracelets canadasilicone bracelets canadasilicone wristbands canadacustom wristbands canadacanadian wristbandswristbands canada
Snowflake Boy Wang Fuman. [Photo by Ye Longfei] KUNMING - A poverty-stricken schoolchild in Southwest China's Yunnan province, who was dubbed frost boy, has returned to his original school after just one week at a private boarding school. Third-grader Wang Fuman attracted public attention for a second time following media reports that he was forced to leave the private school where he had been offered free boarding. Wang became an online sensation in January when a photo showing him arriving at school in a thin jacket with rosy cheeks and frost-covered hair after a one-and-a-half-hour walk went viral on social media. Wang had trekked a more than four-km mountain road from his home to Zhuanshanbao primary school at an elevation of 2,850 meters in Ludian County on the freezing morning. His hair, eyebrows and eyelashes were covered with ice. His teacher snapped a photo of him and posted it on WeChat, a popular Chinese messaging app. Wang's story soon moved millions of Chinese, who called him frost boy, and many making donations to help the boy's family. After the Chinese Lunar New Year, which fell on Feb 16 this year, Xinhua School, a private boarding school in Zhaotong, which administers Ludian, offered the boy and his sister a chance of free boarding education. The boy's father Wang Gangkui accepted the help and sent the two children to the school more than 40 kilometers away from their home. Although the school is far away, my son can live and eat on campus and do his homework after class without the distraction of housework, said the father. The headmaster of Xinhua School, who gave his surname Yang, said he wanted the boy and his sister to set a good example for other poor children. Although they come from poverty, they can change their fate through hard work, said Yang. However frequent media interviews and visits by people from all walks of life disrupted the school, said Yang, adding Students here can only go home once a month and we were worried that the boy could not handle this and his studies would be affected. Because of these reasons, we contacted their father and then sent the two back to their original school, he said. The education department in Ludian confirmed that the two children returned to the Zhuanshanbao primary school on March 7. Fu Heng, principal of the primary school, said people should respect the decision and support it in the best interests of the child. His studies have not been affected by the school transfer, said Fu, adding that the boy is as optimistic as before and gets along well with classmates.
