In the ninth part of the Rural China series, China Daily reporter D J Clark visits villagers in Gansu province to investigate how the new rural pension plan is being received.

About 199 million rural Chinese residents had joined the country's rural pension insurance program by the middle of last year, according the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The small statutory payment varies from province to province, and participants can maximize the amount by paying higher rates into the program during their working years. The basic pension, although small, is the first step toward providing coverage to all rural residents after they reach 60, reducing their dependency on their families to support them.

Also see a slideshow

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Snow & mountains

Part 3: Growing benefits

Part 4: A new education

Part 5: A road to prosperity

Part 6: Spring Festival return

Part 7: A tap in every home

Part 8: Investing in health

Part 9: Securing the future

Part 10: The next ten years

Click here for the vBook of Rural China

By D J Clark

Logistics: Zhang Pingyun

Animation: Xu Jiye

Producer: Flora Yue

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

See more videos at:D J Clark's Video Column

About D J Clark

D J Clark has worked worldwide as a multimedia journalist for more than 20 years. As well as working for China Daily he runs an MA course in Multimedia journalism at Beijing Foreign Studies University and is the Director of Visual Journalism at the Asia Center for Journalism in Manila, Philippines.