While Western standard surveys in the context of international country comparisons surprisingly measure a very high level of generalized trust in the People's Republic of China, Chinese social science research diagnoses a trust crisis in contemporary Chinese society. The author addresses this contradiction, which has not yet been satisfactorily explained. First, a critical methodological examination of the statistical results regarding trust is conducted both at the country level and specifically for China. This is followed by a nuanced discussion of Chinese research on trust in China, along with a presentation of the author's own findings from a qualitative study on trust in the People's Republic of China and Taiwan.