Abstract: A new classification of Chinese land use has been put forward and has been in practice since Jan 1, 2002. But this classification seems to have some defects and problems：its classification concept and logic, are not clear and confusing at a certain extent; the names and definitions of some classification types are not very exact and mistakable; and most important of all, having neglected the existence and importance of such land as "nature reserve", its understanding of "land use" appears to be too narrow and out-of-date. Maybe the introduction of a new concept of "land for ecological use" is a reasonable solution. Land for ecological use, just as the name implies, are land which are mainly used for preserving the diversity of creature, the primitive nature environment and the balance of regional or global ecological system, and actually include all of the land on the earth except land for agricultural use and land for constructional use. Based on the above idea, this article thinks that all of the land on the earth are being used and the concept of so-called "unused land" should be abandoned, and proposes that Chinese land use types should be divided into three major kinds, which are land for agricultural use, land for constructional use and land for ecological use. Furthermore, it advances another classification system of Chinese land use, modifies the definitions of some old classification types and gives the definitions of new ones.

Key words: land use, classification, land for ecological use, China