Abstract: Polycentric urban development is promoted as a planning strategy to make cities and regions more efficient and sustainable. This article reviews the emerging literature on polycentric development in China. We find that Chinese urban regions are still largely monocentric, with emerging polycentric urban centers. There exists a geographical mismatch between urban centers identified by different metrics and composite indicators. The mechanism of polycentric urban development in China differs across cities and geographical scales, and the primary triggers include economic, institutional, and transportation factors, with a significant role of the state. Polycentric development has gained currency in planning policy in China, and these policies have contributed to polycentric urban development in well-developed regions. Furthermore, the ‌Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic promoted suburbanization and limited people’s mobility, and polycentricity in the post-pandemic era is worthy of further investigation. This review calls for efforts for multiscale, multi-dimensional, and multi-mechanism understanding of polycentric development toward more powerful theoretical and policy contributions.