Abstract: Biomass burning emits large amounts of trace gases and particulate matter into the atmosphere. Emission inventories are important datasets for studying the environmental and climatic effects of biomass burning. The spatial distribution, seasonal changes, and interannual variations in biomass burning emissions over China during 2008–2017 were investigated based on three biomass burning inventories, namely, the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED), the Fire INventory from NCAR (FINN), and the emission inventory of open biomass burning in China (MEIC). The similarities and differences among the inventories were also compared and analyzed. The inventories consistently exhibited high amounts of black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), aerodynamic particulate matter with a size of ＜2.5 µm (PM2.5), and carbon monoxide (CO) from biomass burning over Northeast China, the regions between the lower reaches of the Yellow River and Yangtze River, and southern China, where agriculture and forest areas concentrated. The emission amounts in the FINN inventory were larger in southern and Southwest China than those in the other two inventories, whereas the emission amounts in the GFED inventory were higher in the Yangtze River Delta. Averaged over China, the peak of biomass burning emissions was in spring, whereas the peak emission amount occurred in different seasons for typical subregions of China, which could be related to different crop-sowing seasons and seeding habits. Between 2008 and 2017, the domain average annual biomass burning emissions peaked in 2014 in China. However, the period corresponding to maximum emissions was different for the subregions. Maximum emissions occurred in 2015, 2013, 2008, and 2010 in Northeast China, East China, South China, and Southwest China, respectively. For BC, OC, and PM2.5, the estimated domain average emissions over China were similar between GFED and MEIC, whereas the emissions in FINN were 2–3 times higher than those in the other two inventories. The CO emissions were similar in the three inventories. The annual and domain average OC and PM2.5 emissions from biomass burning in the three emission inventories accounted for 9%–24% and 5%–16%, respectively, of anthropogenic emissions over China in 2014, indicating that OC and primary PM2.5 from biomass burning are important sources of primary aerosols over China.