Abstract: To better understand the universal law of the development of Chinese coal-bearing strata and to conduct a reasonable correlation of coal-bearing strata at regional scale, based on the modern stratigraphy theory and by four-in-one method of tectonic units-sedimentary types-ancient flora-coal forming period, 25 coal-bear ing strata areas and 40 coal-bearing sub-region are classified at the geographic framework since the late Paleozoic for China.Then, the characteristics of occurrence an d distribution of coal-bearing strata can be summarized resource as the generalized occurrence, from the sea to the land, drifting between the south and the north, highl ight in the northwest.These characteristics may reflect objectively the time and space distribution law of coal-bearing strata in China.