Abstract: With the economy development and the demographic transition in China, the family is changing obviously. Family size tends to be miniaturization and diversification. Meanwhile, the nuclear family is still the most common family type in China. Comparing the development ability of different family structures, the nuclear family is integrally better than the others. And then the stem and joint families with two generations are also relatively good. While as is the case of the interval-generation family, the broken nuclear family, namely the single parent family, is relatively poor. The elderly family particularly the widowed one needs more attention and support from their children, the government and the society. The family development capacity is also different in the different stages of family. In the process of family life cycle, the development ability is worsening gradually from the formation to the disintegration of family.