Out of Work, Out of Luck

The process of upgrading Gansu's heavy industry started in the 1990s. The unproductive and heavily polluting metals industry was slimmed down, resulting in many job losses. Many workers aged 45 or older found themselves virtually unemployable.

In 2007, Zhao Heyou was made redundant by Xibei Ferroalloy Factory at age 56. "The standard retirement age for male workers is 60, but the factory was overstaffed and couldn't afford to keep everyone on the payroll, so some of the older workers had to leave," he said.

The factory, in Liancheng, Lanzhou, opened in 1971, By the 1980s it employed thousands of workers, but as China's economic structure changed, the industry with its old facilities and outmoded techniques became increasingly unproductive.

Zhao said that more than a thousand of workers in his factory were "asked" to retire. "It was not a bad option because even those who were still working earned very little. The monthly salary was just 700 ($115) or 800 yuan and often it wasn't paid on time. Sometimes we would get our wages two or three months late because the factory had financial difficulties."

However, finding another job proved difficult. Many workers had contracted industrial diseases, such as pneumoconiosis (an illness caused by the inhalation and retention of dust in the lungs), arthritis, and osteoporosis, better known as "brittle bone disease", at an early age.

Zhao worked as a fireman on an antiquated boiler, shoveling coal to feed the flames. The lack of automation meant he was required to stand by the hot boiler 12 hours a day. The difference in temperature between the red-hot workshop and the air outside affected his bones and joints. In cold weather, he experienced severe pain in his knees and wrists.

After his redundancy, Zhao applied for other work, including as a security guard, but his age and generally poor health were against him. His "retirement compensation" is just 300 yuan a month, so his children have to pay most of his daily expenses.