Since “middle class” is a western concept which concerning people’s income, education and occupation (Wang, 2010), the Chinese middle class should defines in a different way due to the specific state of China, such as its high populations, limited arable land and other related elements (Zhou cited in China.org.cn, 2010). In additional to the stands above, most Chinese scholars use subjective judgment, consumption level and lifestyle in their studies to measure Chinese middle class (Wang, 2011), because they believe that it is very hard to measuring them in a western manner. Concerning with China’s current status, the basic and core concept of Chinese middle class will be discussed here in terms of their income, education, occupation, subjective judgment, consumption level and lifestyle, and the following study will based on this explored definition.
Income
Most of the literatures classify Chinese middle class in terms of their income: according to McKinsey Global Institute (cited in Wang, 2010), the Chinese middle class is those people whose annual incomes range from $13,500 to $53,900. At the same time, The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (cited in Wang, 2010) released a report to defining the Chinese middle class as families with assets valued from $18,100 to $36,200, and the National Bureau of Statistics (cited in Wang, 2010) released a survey result in 2005 which stated that the urban middle class should have a yearly income between $9,405 and $78,376, and this is the first time in China that the “middle class” was defined clearly with a number (China.org.cn, 2010).
由于“中产阶层”是一个西方的概念，它涉及人的收入，教育和职业（王，2010），中国中产阶层应该定义在以不同的方式，由于在特定状态的中国，如它的高人口，耕地有限和其他相关要素（周中引用的China.org.cn 2010年）。额外站在上面，大多数中国学者在他们的研究中使用的主观判断，消费水平和生活方式来衡量中国的中产阶级（王，2011），因为他们认为这是非常困难的测量他们在西方的方式。关于中国目前的状况，中国中产阶层的基础和核心的概念将在这里讨论他们的收入，受教育程度，职业，主观判断，消费水平和生活方式，下面的研究将基于此探讨的定义。
收入
大多数的文献分类，中国的中产阶层而言，他们的收入：根据麦肯锡全球研究院（王，2010）中提到，中国的中产阶级是那些人的年收入范围由$ 13,50053900美元的。在同一时间，在中国科学院社会科学（引自王，2010）发布的一个报告定义中国中产阶层家庭资产价值从$ 18,100到$ 36,200的国家统计局的统计数据（引自王，2010）在2005年公布的一项调查结果指出，城市中产阶层应该有年收入之间9405美元78376美元，这是第一次在中国的“中产阶层”的定义显然与一些（China.org.cn， 2010）。
