The article aims to provide an overview of China's agricultural development and its sustainability by focusing on the agriculture-environmental nexus. We first review literature regarding trends in agricultural development and driving forces. China has made impressive progress at providing food for 22% of the world's population. At the same time, severe environmental impacts have been incurred which not only affect future food security but also have impacts on other socio-economic aspects. The agricultural policies that have been put into practice have direct or indirect impacts on such environmental outcomes. We review the impacts of agricultural policies as well as conservation policies, their effectiveness, some unintended consequences and conflicts. The article concludes that technology and institutional innovation in China should emphasize more integrated sustainable development considering the agriculture-environment nexus, instead of setting incoherent and sometimes incompatible policy goals for each separate side. © 2018 by the authors.