Since the mid-1980s, China has experienced an unprecedented wave of internal migration from rural to urban areas. However, due to the lack of formal residential registration status (Hukou in Chinese), these rural–urban migrants have faced difficulties in re-establishing a sense of belonging to the host city. By using a nationwide survey (2013, n = 12,807) and multilevel logistic regressions, this study has found that, beyond social capital, institutional and financial support are most likely to help migrants adapt to their new lives. The Hukou reforms indeed are helping to construct their belonging to the host city. This study and its emphasis on place-related belonging enriches the meaning of sense of place, especially as it encourages a pluralistic concept. It attempts to understand place-related belonging as an embedded relationship between the individual and the local structure, a relationship that arises from the institutional, social and economic context.