Abstract: This paper has studied how the procreative gender preference for sons superior to daughters long in Chinese residents is under change along with its development in economy and society. The survey mainly collected and analyzed the data about the procreative gender preference from 1981-2016, and its results shows:(1) a downward change in son preference of urban residents; (2) no significant change in son preference of rural residents and stronger preference for son in rural residents than in urban ones; (3) a downward change in son preference of residents in big cities, eastern and central regions with its degree from large to small, while no change in son preference of residents in western regions, which shows a regional difference exists.