Carbon, water and energy fluxes of terrestrial ecosystems in China

•Integrated past 5 to 20 years of flux observations and ancillary ecosystem traits data from ChinaFLUX, the special issue seek to address questions of terrestrial ecosystems carbon, water and energy fluxes changes, the key drivers and dominant mechanisms in China.•The results provide a continental-scale view of the spatial patterns of water and carbon fluxes and key ecosystem functions in China, and how these fluxes respond to environmental changes and human activity.•The large set of data from ChinaFLUX from this special issue are expected to use by the scientific community to test new ideas and advance our understanding of ecosystem functions under present and future climate conditions.