Marine plastic pollution has become an environmental issue of global concern. As the major producer and exporter of plastic products，China has attracted heavy attention on plastic issue. In recent years，international scholars have made evaluation and thereby argued that the amount of plastic waste entering the sea from China rank first in the world. The claim has been reported by foreign media and incurred huge pressure of public opinion to China. However，Chinese researchers have likewise carried out research on marine plastic waste and concluded with considerably different results from those in foreign media coverage. Scientifically sound identification of sources of marine plastic waste could robustly support China in international negotiation on environmentally sound management of marine plastic waste，enhance China’s capacity of solving marine plastic waste，and improve the strategic plan for plastic waste monitoring and reduction.