The Pearl River Delta is a fast-developing economic zone in South China. Relatively abundant monitoring data of POPs are available in the regional environment. DDT is still the most priority POP widely occurred at high concentrations in the air, wild fishes and human breast milk. Fast-increasing municipal waste incinerators, as well as electronic waste cycling activities in the region are important potential sources for PBDEs and PCDD/Fs. Atmosphere and aquatic biota are suggested to be the priority environmental media for monitoring POPs in the subtropical environment, and regional collaboration between mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau on the monitoring and inventory of POPs are of critical need in the Pearl River Delta.