Key issues of land use in China and implications for policy making

•We identify the land use problems while China is undergoing rapid urbanization.•We interpret and assess five land use policies of Chinese current implementation.•There is still lacking an overall land use policy framework in China.•Chinese future land use strategy and policy system were presented.

The paper aims to comprehensively analyze key issues of current land use in China. It identifies the major land-use problems when China is undergoing rapid urbanization. Then, the paper interprets and assesses the related land-use policies: requisition-compensation balance of arable land, increasing vs. decreasing balance of urban-rural built land, reserved land system within land requisition, rural land consolidation and economical and intensive land use. The paper finds that current policies are targeting specific problems while being implemented in parallel. There is lacking a framework that incorporates all the policies. The paper finally indicates the current land-use challenges and proposes strategic land-use policy system to guide sustainable land use in the future.