The circular economy was introduced in China’s policies in 2002 and has evolved into a national strategy and a fundamental pillar of the economy. However, while the efforts so far are worth celebrating, issues such as coordination challenges, uneven development, unsustainable success, and a lack of research are still undermining China's circular development.

This paper builds a primary framework by reviewing the development of China's circular economy policy. The paper consists of a policy review, the implementation and the corresponding outcome, challenge identification, framework establishment and application.