During the past four decades of reform and opening-up, China’s social structure has undergone dramatic changes. Although the driving forces for change involve industrialization, modernization, and globalization, the most fundamental and powerful impetus was the institutional transition, i.e., the 1978 economic system reform initiated in rural areas. During the reform era, there were changes in relationships of interest and a subsequent vitality prompted by changes to interest structures. These not only greatly promoted the development of the economy, but also profoundly affected social stratification and led to restructuring.