Abstract: There are superior geological conditions, extremely complex metallogenic stages, distributions and deposit types for gold in China.There are 2 first-order types, 6 second-order types and 13 third-order types for Chinese gold deposits.Temporally, 7 ore-forming periods dominated by Yanshanian stage are included, and long-term complex compound superimposed mineralization processes are recorded.Spatially, there are significant spatial differences in the distribution of gold type assemblages in different tectonic units, among which the gold deposits related to magmatism are the most widely distributed, and the granite-greenstone type gold deposits are mainly distributed in the distribution areas of Archean craton-Proterozoic metamorphic rocks (North China Craton and marginal–Pacific ocean region).Gold deposits in sedimentary formations are confined to the border of Guizhou, Guangxi and Yunnan, central Guangdong, western Sichuan and Qinling Mountains.Recently, with a series of advances in the technologies of mining, dressing and smelting, changes in market prices and new discoveries in deep prospecting, China has made some breakthroughs in gold exploration.Some low-grade gold deposits with grades lower than 1 g/t can be developed, and gold deposits deeper than 1 000 m can be discovered.Moreover, the scale of gold identified in porphyry, skarn and epithermal copper polymetallic deposits has become prograessively larger, and these resources could be developed and utilized, forming several thousand ton gold resource bases.These new developments and new trends provide specific directions of new round of prospecting action.It is necessary to continue to search for large to super-large scale gold deposits, strengthen the exploration of ore concentration areas and the construction of industrial bases, and also improve the comprehensive recovery of low-grade gold in associated deposits and the comprehensive utilization of tailings.Among these, the most critical involves breaking through existing ways of thinking, focusing on non-traditional deposit types, metallogenic stages, and prospecting space.