Abstract Based on a network of field stations belonging to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Campaign on Atmospheric Aerosol Research network of China (CARE-China) was recently established as the country’s first monitoring network for the study of the spatiotemporal distribution of aerosol physical characteristics, chemical components, and optical properties, as well as aerosol gaseous precursors. The network comprises 36 stations in total and adopts a unified approach in terms of the instrumentation, experimental standards, and data specifications. This ongoing project is intended to provide an integrated research platform to monitor online PM2.5 concentrations, nine-size aerosol concentrations and chemical component distributions, nine-size secondary organic aerosol (SOA) component distributions, gaseous precursor concentrations (including SO2, NOx, CO, O3, and VOCs), and aerosol optical properties. The data will be used to identify the sources of regional aerosols, the relative contributions from nature and anthropogenic emissions, the formation of secondary aerosols, and the effects of aerosol component distributions on aerosol optical properties. The results will reduce the levels of uncertainty involved in the quantitative assessment of aerosol effects on regional climate and environmental changes and ultimately provide insight into how to mitigate anthropogenic aerosol emissions in China. The present paper provides a detailed description of the instrumentation, methodologies, and experimental procedures used across the network, as well as a case study of observations taken from one station and the distribution of main components of aerosol over China during 2012.