Dozens of teachers from Zhouzhi county gathered in front of the Xi’an government building on 15 April demanding payment of their performance bonus. The teachers’ demands dated back to 2016, when the municipal government decided to pay its civil servants a performance bonus of 36,000 yuan.

The performance bonus that was paid to teachers was much lower and varied from district to district. While some teachers received a maximum of 24,000 yuan, others only got a few thousand, and a few got nothing at all. The Zhouzhi teachers demanded a 24,000-yuan bonus across the board, saying teachers in urban and rural districts should be treated equally.

Teachers from two other districts in Xi’an had staged protests over the same issue earlier in the month. In less developed areas of China, teachers only earn around 3,000-5,000 yuan per month and as such the payment of their annual performance bonus is crucial as the cost of living rises.