XUSHUI: Almost a decade after China began curbing coal burning to stop thick winter smog, villagers in northern Hebei province are struggling to afford their heating bills with most gas subsidies now phased out.<\/p>\n
In 2017, Beijing mandated that dozens of northern areas wind down the use of coal-fired stoves in favor of electric and natural gas-powered systems.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s central government allocated funds to refit stoves, but subsidies faded after three years and additional aid has drastically declined, local media reported this week.<\/p>\n
In Xushui, a district in Hebei roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) outside Beijing, villagers told AFP they avoided turning on the heating because it drained their incomes.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegular folks can\u2019t afford it… Spending 1,000 yuan ($143) per month on heat \u2014 no one can stand that,\u201d a resident in his 60s told AFP at a farmers\u2019 market.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone likes that (the air) is clean. There\u2019s not one person that doesn\u2019t like it,\u201d he said, asking not to be named for fear of \u201ctrouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut… the cost of clean (air) is high,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
On the clear, sunny day AFP visited, the warmest temperature was just under six degrees Celsius, with lows of minus seven.<\/p>\n
Restaurant worker Yin Chunlan said that her elderly in-laws need to pay up to 7,000 yuan per year to heat their six-room village home.<\/p>\n
Yin, 48, lives in an apartment in town and says her annual bill is a third of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not the same in the village,\u201d she told AFP.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have to set their heating much higher, and the temperature still isn\u2019t as warm, so it wastes gas and wastes money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yin\u2019s in-laws often pile on extra blankets to stay warm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I see it, it\u2019s quite pitiful,\u201d said Yin, wiping away a tear. \u201cNothing can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
In one village, a woman in her 70s wore a green padded jacket underneath an apron as she crossed her outdoor courtyard.<\/p>\n
Heating in her home is not turned on during the daytime, she said, showing AFP the system\u2019s switchboard mounted above her stove displaying \u201coff.\u201d<\/p>\n
The woman, who did not give her name, said the dial could reach 60C. When asked if the temperature inside could feel as warm, she laughed.<\/p>\n
– Articles taken down –<\/p>\n
Reports that villagers in Hebei were layering up under quilts to avoid costly heating peppered Chinese social media in the first week of the new year.<\/p>\n
An article by Farmers\u2019 Daily reshared in state media CCTV\u2019s opinion section said in rural Hebei natural gas costs up to 3.4 yuan per cubic meter compared to 2.6 yuan in rural areas of Beijing.<\/p>\n
Villagers told AFP they felt the huge price gap was unfair.<\/p>\n
But the original article was quickly taken down, with republications, including the CCTV article, inaccessible days later.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Ministry of Finance said in 2021 a total of 13.2 billion yuan in funds had been distributed for clean heating across Hebei.<\/p>\n
But subsidies to support the installation of new systems and for gas bills, which had lasted three years, would not be renewed, it said in a letter.<\/p>\n
The move came around the same time that international gas prices were driven up by Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. Last year, Chinese authorities reported national gas consumption growth had slowed.<\/p>\n
The ministry, responding to a local proposal to increase financial support for provincial pollution control, said special funds would be arranged for additional subsidies in rural areas, but gave no details of the rollout.<\/p>\n
A local Xushui government platform said in 2017 that some households would be eligible to receive 300 yuan in gas subsidies.<\/p>\n
For villager Zhang Yanjun, that amount hardly made a dent in his bill of several thousand yuan per season.<\/p>\n
The 55-year-old laborer said he had already spent more than 5,000 yuan on heating his home since October.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you give 300 or 200 yuan or something, it\u2019s the same as if you gave no subsidies at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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