Although remittances in China have become one of the main income sources for rural left-behind families,few studies have dealt with its impact on household income inequality at the place of origin.Drawing on survey data from Hubei,a central province with large-scale out-migrants,this paper examines how remittances may contribute to household income inequality.The results show that remittances can reduce the income inequality across households if remittances are treated as exogenous private income transfers.When selectivity of migration is taken into account and instrumental variable is introduced to construct the counterfactual income of migrant households,however,an opposite result emerges: remittances can enlarge household income inequality in sending areas because migrants usually come from rich households.