The coral reefs of Hainan are on the northern margin of Indo-Pacific coral reef centres of high biodiversity, and presumably there are also large numbers of species here, but there is lack of taxonomic capacity to confirm this. Studies are required to assess the possible important role that these reefs play in the global reef system. The major coral reefs areas fringe the South China Sea, especially around Hainan Island, around the coasts of Guangdong and Guangxi Autonomous Region, and also around Hong Kong. These last reefs are the only ones for which there is significant descriptive material. China also has strong interests in the Paracel and Spratly islands (Xisha and Nansha Islands; See Box in the SE Asian report on Spratlys)

China has an extensive coastline from Vietnam along the northern South China Sea to the Korean peninsula in the Bohai Sea. The mainland of China is not influenced by the warm Kuroshio current. This lack of warm water limits the growth of corals and the development of coral reefs along much of the mainland Chinese coast. Typical fringing reefs, however, occur around Hainan Island - a truly tropical island - but only limited and scattered subtidal coral communities, or fringing reefs, occur along the west coast of Leizhou Peninsular of Guangdong Province in the south to Dongshan Bay (23o45’N) of Fujian Province in the southeast. Coral communities can be found also along offshore islands from Diaoyudao Islands (25o45’N) to the north of Taiwan, to Weizhou Island in Guangxi along the southern coast. Coral reefs are not well developed around Hong Kong, but there are coral communities on the northeast and eastern shores, and patchy distribution of coral colonies in the southern and southwestern coasts.