This project proposes an ethnographic study of the emerging middle-class culture in contemporary urban China. It seeks, 1) to explore the mundane practices and subjective experiences of the socially recognized and self-identified middle class in concrete social circumstances; and 2) to shed light on different forms and logics that feature the state-individual interrelations. It does so by investigation two specific realms — domestic life practices and public engagement — in the middle-class lives.