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The occupation-based social security system in urban China came in need of reform as the market transition gathered pace, and a growing proportion of the population began to work outside the public sector. One of the greatest challenges for the reform is caring for an ageing workforce, and both the Chinese government and the World Bank see the revival of Confucian family values as being key to success. This paper seeks to conceptualise the Chinese intergenerational contract and contextualise it in order to verify the validity of this approach.Despite the persistence of intergenerational support in reform China, this paper maintains that due to the shrinking size of Chinese urban families and the increasing insecurity related to the market transition, these expectations are not realistic. The Chinese leadership needs to face this urgent issue not only to ensure a more balanced and sustainable economic development, but also in order to re-gain legitimacy among its 'people', thus securing the country's political stability. The European Union may provide China with valuable assistance in this process, as recommended at the end of this paper. Urban insecurityIn France, 140 years elapsed before the proportion of the population over 60 doubled

Drawing on ethnographic data collected in the city of Nanjing, China, the article analyses discursive practices of courtship and marriage in the context of post-Mao and post-Deng economic, social, and legal developments. Informants’ discussions often revolve around the tension between the idea that marriage should be about love and the increasing material demands that prospective grooms face upon marriage in a market-led consumer society. This tension also emerges in media debates on the hedonistic attitude of Ma Nuo, a contestant on the matchmaking programmeFeicheng Wurao(If you are the one). Informants, on the other hand, articulate their feelings in terms of family responsibility and pursue marriages that, while based on choice, may also ensure financial stability and parental approval.

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