Despite the difficulties in the global insurance industry, China recorded a strong performance of double-digit growth in 2009. The insurance market in China has grown rapidly and it still offers further opportunities for both domestic and foreign insurers. This paper focuses on the development of the Chinese insurance industry from 1980 to 2010 with a particular emphasis on the role of foreign insurers and insurance market concentration. Using a unique database that was constructed spanning a sample period of 31 years, we found that the number of foreign life insurance firms has significantly positive effects on the demand of life insurance in China. Also, we identified demographic and economic factors that significantly affect the aggregate demand for life insurance demand. Specifically, factors include total population, income level, dependency ratio, social expenditure and adult literacy rate, interest rate, savings, and financial market development. Contrary to intuition, life expectancy does not appear to have a statistically meaningful effect. The implications herein may be informative to academics, practitioners, and policy makers alike.