本书是一部介绍、阐释当代中国社会轮廓和基本特征的通俗理论读物。全书从中国的基本政治制度、中国社会的人口、中国社会的婚姻与家庭、中国社会的教育、中国的社会结构、中国的社会保障体系、中国社会的环境与资源、互联网与中国社会、中国人的性格九个方面，描绘出中国社会最基本、最重要、最具特色的特征。
本书尤其适合两类读者阅读：一是那些希望了解中国社会，但又不甚了解的外国读者；二是那些生活在中国社会中，对这个社会很熟悉，但又没有系统地从整体上思考过中国社会特征的读者。

                                                   China Renmin University Press invited us to write a book to broadly describe the contemporary Chinese society，because we are professionally trained in sociology.It did not look like a difficult job at first，but we began to feel its difficulty after we started the specific implementation.First，the “society” required by China Renmin University Press is the “society” in a narrow sense compared with the “society” in the broad sense with the characteristics of politics，economy，culture，environment and others，which seems to be quite clear.However，it is actually very difficult to define which aspects of the society belong to the scope of “society”.In the first chapter of Chinas Basic Political System in this book，for example，it seems like the typical political characteristics of a society，but if you need to summarize the social characteristics of a society，you need to first clearly specify the most basic power structure of the society and how basic powers of a society are distributed to constitute the basic rule of social functioning.Therefore，in our view，we need to first start with the basic political system of China to discuss Chinese society.Second，even if we only try to see through a society from the perspective of the “society” in a narrow sense，it is still more complex compared with from other perspectives such as politics，economy and culture, and the involved aspects or fields are also more detailed and complicated.In order to clarify the characteristics of Chinese “society” in the relatively limited length of a book，it is necessary to carefully select the most basic，important and distinctive characteristics which can reflect the society，so that readers can form a complete and vivid impression on Chinese “society” after reading this book.As a result，weve written all the chapters in the book.Third，this book is neither an academic writing nor a travel guide.The standard that weve set is that: we shall maintain certain academic standards and taste and make our analysis more profound and scientific，as well as avoid making it dull and insipid to weaken the pleasure of reading.Therefore，it becomes very important to form a certain style in writing.Weve tried，but we do not know how far away we are from the ideal goal.

We hope that this little book can especially be of value to two types of readers including those who wish to understand Chinese society，but do not understand it well；and those who live in and are familiar with Chinese society，but have not systematically thought about the characteristics of Chinese society on the whole.



By the author in Beijing

December of 2018

                                                   Chapter 1 Chinas Basic Political System

I.Chinas fundamental political system: the system of peoples congresses

II.Chinas political party system: the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China

III.The National Institutions and Organization Principle  
of China

Chapter 2 The Population of Chinese Society

I.A populous country: the history and current situation of Chinese population

II.The benefit for future generations: the formulation and implementation of the family planning policy

III.Aging of population: a huge challenge faced by Chinese  
society

IV.To act according to circumstances: major adjustment of the family planning policy

V.The flow of migrant workers:the emergence and plight of migrant workers

Chapter 3 The Marriage and Families of Chinese Society

I.Traditional Chinese families and clans

II.The change of families in contemporary China

III.Traditional marriage system of China

IV.Change of marriage in contemporary China

Chapter 4 Education of Chinese Society

I.The ancient Chinese education system and thought

II.The eastward transmission of western sciences and education for the masses in modern China

III.The education system of contemporary China

Chapter 5 The Social Structure of China

I.The equality and inequality in Chinese society

II.The difference between urban and rural areas of Chinese  
society

III.The occupational structure of Chinese society

IV.Chinas regional structure and regional imbalance

Chapter 6 The Social Security System of China

I.The establishment of the social security system of  
contemporary China

II.“Peopleoriented”: Chinas social security system

Chapter 7 The Environment and Resources of Chinese Society

I.Chinas severe environmental pollution

II.Chinas environmental protection measures

III.Chinas international cooperation in environmental protection and management

Chapter 8 Internet and Chinese Society

I.Chinese peoples ways of socializing and the Internet

II.The change of Chinese peoples consumption pattern

III.The change of Chinese peoples entertainment

IV.WeMedia era

V.The Internet has started a new model of political supervision

Chapter 9 The Character of Chinese People

I.The family concept of Chinese people

II.Chinese peoples human relationship

III.Chinese people who are concerned about facesaving

IV.“Moderate” Chinese people

V.Hardworking Chinese people                                                

李路路，社会学博士，中国人民大学社会学系教授，2012—2017年教育部“长江学者奖励计划”特聘教授，教育部高等学校社会学类教学指导委员会主任委员。主要研究领域为：社会分层与社会流动、组织研究、现代化。国内社会转型理论研究的主要参与者之一，国内阶级阶层再生产理论的主要阐释者，单位体制和单位组织的最早研究者之一。《中国综合社会调查》（CGSS）的共同发起人之一，第一期共同主持人和第二期主持人，该项目是祖国大陆第一个基于全国性抽样入户访问的，具有系统性、持续性和开放性的大型社会科学调查项目。