The Alliance of Civil Protected Areas was officially launched in 2017 by 23 NGOs and domestic foundations，aiming to stimulate civic-led land protection efforts and collectively help the country effectively protect 1% of China’s total land area through adoption of civil protected areas by 2030. To understand the current status and development trends to monitor the progress towards 1% target，the Alliance conducted online questionnaire surveys annually during 2018-2020，and recognized 30，39 and 51 civil protected areas at country level respectively based on the definition and criteria，with the coverage increasing from 7222 square kilometers in 2018 to 10311 square kilometers in 2020. Currently，the civil protected areas mainly distributed in southwestern，northeastern and southern China，where the biodiversity is relatively abundant and the civil societies are most active，demonstrating their high conservation value. Community-based governance by diverse types of community organizations is the major governance type among current civil protected areas，whereas conservation authorization agreements are the major basis for management and small nature reserves are the most common government recognition types. Government recognition and legal status，as well as sustainable funding sources are the major challenges for long-term development of civil protected areas in China.