Recent developments and future trends in China’s urban social security

China’s urban social security system has recently undergone extensive modification, though the future of this system’s structure and benefit level are still in question. This study aims to explore whether the development of China’s urban social security system is converging with or diverging from the western model by comparing its structure, both in principle and reality, and the modification mechanism of this system with the arguments presented by the generally accepted theories. By using the general model as a reference, the features of China’s urban current social security system, both structurally and statistically, have been explored. The quantitative modification mechanisms in different periods have also been compared to demonstrate that changes in the legitimacy of governance could directly influence the modification of China’s urban social security system, and thus is the decisive factor that changes the expression of the correlation between social security and economic development.