A Graying China May Have to Put Off Retirement. Workers Arenât Happy.
Most Chinese workers retire by 60. But with the population aging and pension funds running low, the government says that must change.
An auto assembly line in Wuhan, China. China has some of the lowest retirement ages in the world. Credit.Ng Han Guan/Associated Press
For Meng Shan, a 48-year-old urban management worker in the Chinese city of Nanchang, retirement canât come soon enough.
Mr. Meng, who is the equivalent of a low-level, unarmed law-enforcement official, often has to chase down unlicensed street vendors, a task he finds physically and emotionally taxing. Pay is low. Retirement, even on a meager government pension, would finally offer a break.