Social Mobility in China Today

This paper presents an analysis of social inequality in class mobility and educational attainment in contemporary China. Previous work in this area tends to focus on men or on a few cities, giving a rather partial view. This study uses national representative data (CGSS) and innovative methods to analyse class and educational mobility for men and women across different birth cohorts. In terms of absolute class mobility, we found increasing room at the top, reflecting China’s rapid economic development in the last forty years. As women started from lower positions and as the one-child policy empowered both genders to similar extents, women are found to have made more progress than men, with social advancement increased by 32 points from the oldest to the youngest cohort, as compared with the 14 points for men. In terms of relative mobility, we found a constant fluidity for women but a sharply increasing rigidity for men.

Access to higher education shows sharply increasing class differentials across the cohorts, especially for women. In sum, China has become richer, more educated but much more unequal. The paper also shows a more dynamic picture than British mobility by the best-known research (Goldthorpe 2016; Li and Heath 2016).

Yaojun Li is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Manchester University. His research focuses on social mobility and social stratification, ethnic integration, and social capital (civic engagement and charitable giving) in Britain and China. He was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) in 2016 for his ‘leading contributions to knowledge in social stratification, social change and ethnic integration’. He was recognised as a Top 0.5% Scholar in the world by ScholarGPS in 2024 for his 'strong publication record, the impact of his work, and the notable quality of his scholarly contributions'. And he was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for his 'services to the Advancement of Knowledge in Social Mobility and to Ethnic Integration' in the New Year Honours List 2025. He has published around 130 books, papers, book chapters and official reports.

The MCI is a listed building and therefore does not have any lifts. Please note that you must use the stairs in order to access the venue and the toilets.

The organisers will be taking photos during this event. If you prefer not to be included in any photos, kindly inform the organisers before the event starts.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher The Manchester China Institute