AbstractIn accordance with the terms global minerogenic series, regional metallogenic series and ore deposit system which are put forward here, metallogenic environments at different levels are discussed for the porphyry copper deposit series in China. It is considered that the porphyry copper deposits in China are controlled not only by the boundaries of convergent plates but, more importantly, by the boundaries of intraplate divergent mobile belts and those between continental blocks. Besides, the emplacement of hypabyssal and supper‐hypabyssal calc‐alkaline magmas and the temporal‐spatial distribution of China's porphyry copper deposits are governed by the superimposition of fracture systems of the pre‐Alpine basements, Meso‐Cenozoic cover and continental‐margin new‐born crust. Such a superimposition has also resulted in the polycyclicity of the m