In rural areas of Hebei, the phenomenon of being unable to afford heating during winter due to poverty.

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In Hebei Province, China, for environmental reasons, heating has shifted from coal to natural gas during the winter. However, due to high heating costs and diminishing government subsidies, there has been a surge of complaints online, with some farmers saying they would rather endure the cold than turn on the heating.

On Saturday (January 3), Elephant News, a new media outlet of Henan Radio and Television, commented that in the past, burning coal for heating in rural households cost only 2,000 to 3,000 yuan (RMB, equivalent to 367 to 552 SGD) per winter; after switching to natural gas, the seasonal cost for a 100-square-meter home started at 5,000 yuan, which is two to three times higher than burning coal, accounting for 30% to 50% of the rural household’s annual income.

In 2024, the per capita disposable income of rural residents in Hebei was 20,202 yuan, making the pressure of heating costs obvious. Meanwhile, government subsidies are also declining, from an initial subsidy of 1 yuan per cubic meter to 0.8 yuan, and now down to 0.2 yuan, which critics say is “adding insult to injury.”

A widely circulated online post states: “In Hebei, rural areas promote natural gas heating and ban coal burning, but there are actual situations where people are afraid to use gas or cannot afford to use it. Rural families mainly rely on farming and part-time work for income, and the cost of natural gas heating is far higher than burning coal. In some places, subsidies have even stopped, making it difficult for low-income families and left-behind elderly groups to afford. Many families are afraid to turn on the heating and can only endure the cold. Previously, they could find ways to cope with coal burning, but now natural gas and electricity are simply unaffordable. Such policies are very cruel to rural elders. Don’t forget that the cold winter is a trial for the poor, especially for rural elderly without money. If they can endure it, they might see spring come again; if they can’t, it’s a tragedy for the family.”

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Environmental protection in capitalism is built on sacrificing the interests of the masses, and it only addresses the symptoms rather than the root cause.

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In reality, it neither addresses the root causes nor the superficial issues. The environmental protection efforts of imperialist countries are merely tools for monopoly bourgeoisie to annex small and medium capital, as well as a façade project to improve their image. The so-called environmentally friendly imperialist countries are only transferring heavily polluting industries to colonies. Furthermore, they slander colonies by claiming that mountains of garbage and rampant deforestation are their own problems, or that these are just “the pains of development.”

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It reminds me of a time when I was at the factory, and a worker angrily cursed the Chinese government because of heating issues. He said that farmers can’t earn much money in a year, yet they prevent farmers from burning coal and forcibly make farmers use natural gas that can’t even warm their houses.

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It’s the same on our side. A few years ago, we tried compressing straw, but the boiler couldn’t handle it. Now we’re back to burning coal.

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The notice from the State Council in 2023 clearly states: Increase efforts to replace scattered coal for civilian and agricultural use, mainly eliminate scattered coal in plain areas of key regions, and gradually promote clean energy alternatives for scattered coal in mountainous areas… Localities shall designate regions that have completed clean heating renovations as high-pollution fuel ban zones to prevent the re-burning of scattered coal. For areas that have not yet implemented clean heating, strengthen supervision of the quality of commercial coal.

The document issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment explicitly states the goal of essentially eliminating “scattered coal,” and also designates ban zones to prevent its re-burning. It is obvious that this measure has been long planned, and from the beginning, there was no intention to give the people in impoverished areas any leeway; they are determined to force people to use natural gas with this brutal method, which is essentially a form of forced tribute. It can be imagined that with very little income, the additional gas costs of several thousand yuan are unaffordable. A few days ago, I saw some news saying that most gas furnaces in houses are not turned on during winter, and people can only endure it.

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This news outlet, Lianhe Zaobao, in Singapore, provided a follow-up report today:

In an elderly person’s home in Hebei, the elderly person took out their phone and showed the reporter the latest pension subsidy received, saying, “I only got 233 yuan 9 mao 1 (Renminbi, about 42 SGD). For the elderly, this is just a small amount of money. No income, you have to spend on heating, electricity, right? Who do you rely on? Children.” “Kids don’t earn easy money, so we try to save as much as we can.”

During the day, the temperature is around 5°C, and the wall-mounted heater is almost not turned on inside the house. Whether indoors or outdoors, people dress warmly; once the temperature drops below zero at night, many families still dare not turn up the heater too high. Instead, they burn kang beds, wrap themselves in thick quilts, or rely on electric blankets to sleep.

On Friday (January 9), the reporter from Lianhe Zaobao visited the rural areas mentioned in previous news reports. At least six villagers interviewed complained that heating costs are too high, and natural gas is “not affordable.” Even if they spend 5,000 yuan on winter heating, it may not keep them warm.

The “People’s Congress representative” of the Nazis also admitted: to maintain a room temperature of 18°C in a 100-square-meter house, one needs to burn 20 to 30 cubic meters of natural gas daily. Based on the rural gas price starting at 3.15 yuan per cubic meter in Shijiazhuang area, a household needs to pay between 63 and 94.5 yuan for natural gas each day, with total winter heating costs reaching 7,560 to 11,340 yuan.

As someone living in northern China, I feel deeply about this issue because once the temperature drops below zero in our region, in a non-heated flat, people are frozen to the point that their hands can’t stretch out, and they have to sleep under two thick quilts. The parts of the body exposed outside the quilt quickly become icy cold.

A few years ago, when I was in high school, we still burned scattered coal to keep warm during winter. Although the Nazi government policy at that time forbade burning coal, we locals could still buy scattered coal—it’s a policy but without bureaucratic control. Later, the Nazis banned coal burning, and my city was centrally heated by a thermal power plant. With central heating, our winter heating costs were over 1,000 yuan for three rooms with two bedrooms and a living room for the residents, while the kitchen, bathroom, shower room, and other seldom-used rooms had no heating. Even with centralized heating, this year’s winter is not warmer than last year’s.

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These poor elderly farmers and urban workers, in China, the lives of the working people are truly full of hardships everywhere. Take my mother, for example. She is an elderly woman who has worked in a factory for 20 years, suffering through the first half of her life. Now that she is old and nearing retirement, she has to endure the ailments left by her hard work. This winter, after the temperature dropped, her health has been poor due to overwork. In the past month, the money I transferred to her from my salary has all been spent on medicine. I think, in today’s Chinese society, the lives of many workers and farmers are like this. And as that Capybara said, “Workers earning over ten thousand yuan a month,” there could be several thousand in just one county, which is unbelievable.

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How is Huoyan doing lately?

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As the Chinese New Year approaches, my apprenticeship period will last until April of this year at the latest (the factory’s meaning is that those who can become permanent employees by April will do so, and those who cannot will leave). I don’t watch much news every day, and most of my free time in the evenings after the book club is spent playing games.

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Which elderly person from Hebei showed the pension to the reporter made me think of an incident, “Shandong Chengwu County pension incident”

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Image

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This data comes from the official bulletin of this county government, where eight thousand lackeys share 785 million yuan in pension funds within a year.

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