Millions of China’s most vulnerable lack even the most basic means to save for their children’s education, make purchases on credit, protect their homes through insurance, and send and receive money. Financial exclusion prevents many of them from realizing their potential and improving their livelihoods.

In the run-up to the February 11 launch of our latest publication, Embracing Informality: Designing Financial Services for China’s Marginalized, we’d like to feature some of their stories.

In Xuanwei, Yunnan, an elderly couple invites us into their living room. Wistfully, they show us the shrine in their home, dedicated to Chairman Mao. Those were better times, they say. Even though life was difficult, it was stable.

“At least we knew we were poor and that we would continue to be poor,” the woman said. They got by, and the state helped them with the bare necessities.

Now, every day brings new challenges. The couple worries about their ailing health, about what to do in case of an emergency, about the little they have to leave for their children and grandchildren when they pass away. They fear that their grandchildren will be even less well-off than they themselves are today. What’s worse, they feel ashamed that there is nothing they can do to help.

The couple has considered taking out an insurance policy and recently visited the office of an insurance agent in a town an hour away. They had heard that insurance companies were like banks but with better interest rates.

But they found the agent pushy, and sensed he was trying to sell them policies they didn’t need. He chided them for wanting the most basic plan, citing their old age and the large family that they had. They were responsible, he insisted, for ensuring the health and wealth of future generations.

This may have been true, the couple thought, but they just didn’t see how the more expensive policy would benefit them more. Confused, they went home empty-handed. They continue to worry about their health and their family’s future.

The television news often crows about China’s progress, the couple says, saying it is developing faster than any other country. “But the China we live in is a far cry from what we see on TV.”

Editor’s Note: This profile is a composite of real people who shared their stories with us. Though the profile takes pieces from different individuals’ lives, the goal was to develop individual stories that are representative of a broader group.