Stressful life events, personal control, and social support were examined relative to marital satisfaction among 1749 participants in seven Chinese cities. Stressful life events were categorized as life crises and life transitions. Life crises, rather than transitions, negatively predicted the marital satisfaction of Chinese. The moderating effects of personal control were found among women, but not men, and occurred only in the relationship between marital satisfaction and life crises, not life transitions. Social support buffers the negative effects of life crises on marital satisfaction. The results extend family stress-coping theory in specifying two coping resources for Chinese marriages under stress. © 2010 The Authors. Asian Journal of Social Psychology © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Asia Pty Ltd with the Asian Association of Social Psychology and the Japanese Group Dynamics Association.