The status of Chinese fishing fleet of South China Sea area (Guangdong, Gangxi and Hainan) is analyzed in this paper according to China Fisheries Statistic Yearbook and the fisheries resources status of South China Sea, including the total number, tonnage and main engine power of the fleet, also the size distribution of main engine power and fishing gears. In 2013, the total number of the fishing fleet in this area was 81 647, with a total tonnage of 1 566 000 tons,including 78 671 motorized vessels with 3 823 000 kW. More than 75% of the motorized fishing vessels in this area were less than 12 m LOA and 44.1 kW, which increased rapidly in 1980s and 1990s, and has kept stable in the last 10 years. The number of big-size vessels in this area with engine power more than 441 kW is very small, and increasing very slow to less than 0.6 percent of the total motorized fishing vessels, while the number of medium-size vessel with engine power 44.1-441 kW is stable. In terms of fishing gear, the fishing vessels are dominated by gill net (63.5%), followed by trawl (11.5%), purse seine (7%), and line (7%). Totally speaking, the fishing capacity of this area is too high, and the number of small-sized vessels is too big, while the composition of fishing gear is unreasonable. Suggestions of this paper are:further reduce the fishing fleet, and give priority to reduction of small-sized vessels, while moderately keep the number of large-sized vessels. The vessels fishing by trawl and gill net should be reduced substantially,while vessels fishing by line should increase, and purse seine fishing and deep-water trawling should be encouraged.