OBJECTIVES:  Estimate the cost-utility threshold in China using social willingness-to-pay method based on contingent valuation. And comparing the threshold with the 1 to 3 times of per capita GDP recommended by WHO to explore the applicability of threshold-based GDP in China. METHODS: Two widely used preference-based health-related quality of life instruments were used to elicit utility. Firstly, with the instrument of VAS, the respondents were requested to evaluate five health states, including the perfect health state, death, subject’s own health state, 11131 and 22222. Using the other, EQ-5D, the respondents were requested to evaluate their own health state. Secondly, collect the respondents’ WTP for avoiding a decline in health from the better health state to the worse, using a payment scale. The social-demographic characteristics of the respondents were also collected. RESULTS: We randomly sampled 250 respondents from an online panel in Beijing in Oct 2015. 205 respondents correctly completed the questionnaires. The utility-based VAS of subject’s own health, 11131 and 22222 were 0.86, 0.70 and 0.37. The utility-based EQ-5D were 0.93, 0.70 and 0.51. The average values of WTP were 4,139RMB (205 respondents) and 4,586RMB (185 respondents excluding the unwilling to pay respondents). The average of WTP/QALY obtained by VAS was 25,586RMB and 20,904RMB by EQ-5D, respectively. They were significantly lower than the per capita GDP of China in 2014. The multiple regression model showed that participants with higher income tends to have higher WTP/QALY. CONCLUSIONS: Individual WTP for QALY values elicited in this study were significantly lower than the 1 to 3 times of GDP recommended by WHO even in Beijing, a city with a high economic development. Our results shows that the threshold recommended by WHO may have limited applicability in China and it is important for China to establish a local threshold.