AbstractThe article integrates interdisciplinary insights in an analytical framework and aims to examine what factors matter more for happiness than income in China from a sociological perspective. The study emphasizes the importance of social contexts and adopts a mixed‐methods approach. Quantitative analysis of the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey data shows that intentional activities, social attitudes, and social comparison are significantly associated with Chinese people's happiness after economic circumstances and sociodemographic characteristics have been taken into account as control variables. In addition, qualitative analysis of in‐depth interviews helps to contextualize the quantitative findings and to enrich the understanding of why these factors rather than income would play a more significant role in making people happy in China. This study demonstrates the value of investigating happiness across disciplinary boundaries and makes an empirical contribution to examining subjective well‐being in contemporary society.