Objective To introduce and validate a measure to assess subjective social isolation among the elderly. Methods Forward translation, back translation, and cross-cultural adaptation were performed following Beaton′s guidelines to develop the Chinese version of the Perceived Isolation Scale (PIS-C). A sample of 432 elderly adults from 3 communities in Wuhan were surveyed to examine the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Results The PIS-C consists of three dimensions and 9 items. Exploratory factor analysis identified three common factors, which explained 56.475% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis showed excellent goodness of fit indices for the three-factor structure (χ2/df=2.194, RMSEA=0.074, SRMR=0.058, CFI=0.962, TLI=0.943). Cronbach′s α coefficient of the scale was 0.776, and test-retest reliability was 0.792. The scale′s content validity index was 1.000. Conclusion The PIS-C is a valid and reliable tool for assessing subjective social isolation among elderly population.