The understanding of economic inequality plays an important role in children’s evaluations of individuals and societies as well as their opinions on governmental policy issues including taxation and welfare． Based on cognitive-developmental theory，this study recruited 186 Chinese participants (8 ～ 9 year olds; 11 ～ 12 year olds; 14 ～15 year olds; adults，mainly undergraduates，age: 20. 7 ± 1. 32) and had them fill out a self-reported questionnaire about the nature，justification，causes and alleviation of poverty，including open-ended questions and structural items． Our findings were as follows: After controlling for SES，(1) 8 ～ 9-year-old children were more likely than adults to describe the rich /poor with peripheral features; 11 ～ 12-year-old children placed more emphasis on the psychological features than other age groups; Adults’descriptions focused more on systemic features than 8 ～ 9-year-old children; (2) 8 ～ 9-year-old children were more likely to claim it is unfair that some people are poor while some are rich than other age groups; (3) Both children and adults mentioned personal factors in the causes of poverty and ways to alleviate poverty，while adults were more likely to focus on external factors such as national policy and societal factors and suggest it is impossible to eliminate poverty． In conclusion，some similarities have been observed between children in this study and their Western counterparts regarding the development of understanding of wealth and poverty，such as the description of the rich /poor． However，differences were also detected，particularly in children’s ideas about the causes，justification，and alleviation of poverty． Chinese children placed more emphasis on personal factors and were more likely to believe that poverty was fair，compared to children in previous Western studies． The cultural implication of the results is discussed． Our findings provided a theoretical and empirical basis for other future studies to investigate this complicated development．

儿童贫富观是其价值观的重要体现，贫富观形成是儿童社会化进程中的重要方面，然而目前国内尚缺乏中国儿童贫富观的系统研究。本研究以8～9岁、11～12岁、14～15岁以及成人(主要为大学生，年龄为20.7±1.32岁)为研究对象(N=186)，结合开放性问题和结构化问卷，考察他们对于贫富的感知、公平判断、归因以及对于缓解贫困对策的认识。结果发现:控制社会经济地位之后，(1) 8～9岁儿童对贫富的认识局限于表面特征，11～12岁更关注心理特征，而成人提及系统特征的比例更高;(2) 8～9岁儿童较其他年龄组更倾向于对贫富做不公平的判断;(3)在贫富的归因和缓解贫困的对策上，儿童和成人都认可个人因素的重要性，但成人更多关注国家政策和社会的影响，并且认为消除贫困是不可能的。中国儿童贫富观的发展与西方已有研究相比，既有共性也有文化特异性。

国家社会科学基金重大项目(14ZDB161);国家社会科学基金重大项目(19ZDA021);; “十三五”科技基础资源调查专项(2017FY101106)