As the world's largest CH 4 emitter, China's CH 4 emissions contribute to climate change more than the amount emitted by many developed countries combined. The rapid growth of China's coal demand has important implications for CH 4 emissions from coal mining or coal mine methane (CMM) emissions. This paper aims to present an overview of bottom-up estimation of China's CMM emissions, including the trend in the last four decades and the limitations of current understanding on CH 4 emissions. Although characterized by significant differences in inventory compilation, statistically, the total CMM emissions rose from 4.64 to 16.41 Tg with a peak of 21.48 Tg from 1980 to 2016. Large discrepancies of inventory results existed in previous studies, which were affected by the coverage of emission sources, emission factors and activity-level data. The disagreements can be largely attributable to the emission factors of underground mining, which contain substantial variances in both spatial and temporal dimensions. To develop more reliable CMM inventories and make targeted mitigation measures, more attention should be paid to the transparency of the estimated results, coal statistics, on-site CMM emission factors, and the emissions from abandoned coal mines. As the leading CH 4 emission source in China, the estimations of CMM emissions urgently need to overcome existing and emerging challenges for compiling a consistent and accurate inventory. Unlabelled Image • We perform an overview of current bottom-up estimation of China's CMM emissions. • CMM emissions over 1980–2016 rose from 4.64 to 16.41 Tg with a peak of 21.48 Tg. • Inventory results were improved along with large discrepancies and disagreements. • We discuss the types of emission source, emission factors and activity-level data. • The limits of current understanding and future research prospects are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]