About half of China's lakes are saline and are important breeding grounds for waterfowl . Most are concentrated in northwest China on the inland drainage systems of the North Tibetan Plain and in the Zaidan basin. The largest is Qinghai Hu, a 4,426-square-kilometre reserve which attracts thousands of birds each summer, including cormorants, great black-headed gulls, bar-headed geese, and pied avocets. Similarly, the Tarim River basin in Xinjiang supports one of the largest breeding populations of black stork in China. The Ordos plateau area of Inner Mongolia as well as the Xinjiang's Taolimiao-Alashan Nur (lake) support breeding sites for the endangered relict gull . Most of these lakes and marshes fluctuate seasonally and are threatened by increased diversion of water for human use, including household and agricultural uses.

China's coastline is approximately 18,000 km long, extending from the Bohai Gulf which freezes in the winter to the tropical waters of the South China Sea. Coastal wetlands are important as fuel stops for waterfowl on the migratory route between Siberia and Australia. Chongming Island in the Yangzi River Delta near Shanghai - China's largest city and one of its fastest growing regions - is vital for these migrants.