On the occasion of the Chinese New Year, we are proud to present a special issue on gene and cell therapy in China, guest-edited by two of China's prominent scientific leaders in the field of gene and cell therapy, Professor De-Pei Liu and Professor Yuquan Wei. Along with this collection of commentaries, reviews, and original articles, we also seek to highlight areas of excellence among the translational gene and cell therapy research community in the world's most populous nation where sciences and technologies are being developed at an unprecedented speed.