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Urban China has gone through two major social transformations since 1949: the embrace of a central planning socialist system between early 1950s and late 70s, and the embrace of neo-liberal market economy in the so-call “socialism with Chinese characteristics” since 1980. While the political regime remains the same over time, many profound changes have occurred in economic life, social life, cultural life, spiritual life and civil life. What really happened in the social transformation of urban China? What would explain those changes? How did people in different walk of life deal with those huge and deep social transformation? To address these concerns, we will exam a list of issues. Topics includes changes in population and demographic characteristics, employment structure and job market, workplace and residential communities, income and wealth distributions, segregation impacts of urban household registration systems, urban consumption patterns, courting cultures and dressing codes, spiritual practices, and social mobility and social stratifications. In the realm of public policies, we will pay special attentions to the issues of transportation, housing, medical service, public education, social insurance, and environmental protection. We will also study the characteristics of contentious politics and how social conflicts of power, interest, justice, cultural and belief were processed in urban China.