BACKGROUND: Development of tissue engineering is of great social and economic significance. Understanding the basic research strength of China in the main subfields of tissue engineering can provide reference for the optimization of resources allocation and for the formulation of corresponding development strategies. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the basic research strength of China in the main subfields of tissue engineering. METHODS: PubMed was searched for basic research and top basic research articles in the subfields of tissue engineering (including bone and cartilage, nerve, blood vessel, liver, skin, heart, and eye tissue engineering) in the world, the United States and China. By comparing with the global average and American, Chinese basic research strength in the main subfields of tissue engineering was evaluated with indicators including the number of papers, the growth rate of papers, and the number and proportion of top papers. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The number of basic research papers pubIished by Chinese institutions in the subfields of bone and cartilage tissue engineering, nerve tissue engineering, vessel tissue engineering, liver tissue engineering, skin tissue engineering, cardiac tissue engineering and eye tissue engineering was 4 487, 3 551, 2 869, 1 328, 1 185, 1 088 and 689, respectively, accounting for 10%-15% of worldwide papers in corresponding subfields. The amount of papers published by Chinese institutions was nearly half of that published by institutions of the United States for the first five subfields, but only 32.1% and 37.8% of that published by institutions of the United States for the latter two subfields. (2) The annual growth rate of papers published by Chinese institutions was 19.3%, 19.5%, 18.2%, 14.6%, 21.8%, 19.6% and 19.6%, respectively, for the above seven subfrelds, all of which were obviously higher than that of the global average and the United States. (3) The number of top papers published by Chinese institutions was 36, 31, 33, 24, 15, 24 and 12, and the proportion of top papers published by Chinese institutions was 0.8%, 0.9%, 1.2%, 1.8%, 1.3%, 2.2% and 1.7%, respectively, all of which were obviously lower than that of the global average and the United States. (4) China has published relatively more papers on bone and cartilage tissue engineering, nerve tissue engineering and vessel tissue engineering, and relatively less papers on cardiac tissue engineering and eye tissue engineering. The amount of papers published by Chinese institutions has been growing rapidly in each of the seven main subfields of tissue engineering, with the speed of growing being obviously higher than that of the global average and the United States. China has published a certain amount of top papers in each of the seven subfields, while the proportion of top papers for China is obviously lower than that of the global average and the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]