A city once known as one of China’s most robust has gone viral for a financial crisis that has left essential city workers without paychecks. Netizens are buzzing about its failure to pay public employees—for over six months, and in some cases, for more than a year.
Meanwhile, residents say that their city is just one of many in China that are struggling to make ends meet post-COVID.
Ruzhou, a county-level city in China’s central Henan province, was once honored as “China’s Model City for a Cyclic Economy.” Ruzhou’s economy ranked 15th out of 140 counties in central China. Now it is unable to pay the teachers, firefighters, police, and health care workers who make things run smoothly in this city of almost one million residents….