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When a society is in equilibrium, social choice for redistribution reflects the majority opinion on the trade-off between equity and efficiency. This is no longer true in a changing society where individuals may experience multiple ways of living. The aim of this paper is to empirically explain endogenous preferences for redistribution together with the causes of poverty, using Chinese individual data. Two worlds coexist in China. On one side, the rural population adheres to the conservative view of the image of limited good (\citealt{Foster1965}) where redistribution is not possible without affecting the fate of others. On the other side, the urban world has benefited from economic growth, accompanied by the rise of meritocracy and the desire for redistributing the fruits of economic growth. In between, we have the floating population of rural migrants with different motives in their decision to join the meritocratic urban world. Using a simultaneous ordered probit model and the data provided by the 2006 CGSS, we found that the length of migration duration and the exposure to discrimination due to the Hukou status are the main drivers of changes in the mechanism of preference formation for redistribution. These insights may help to understand the adherence to meritocratic beliefs as well as how to implement social welfare policies. It provides a new look on Chinese economic growth.
