Abstract: Objective To analyze the present situation and the historical evolution of the study of childhood obesity in China,and to provide basis for carrying out an in-depth research in the future.Methods CiteSpaceⅢ was used to visualize the problem of childhood obesity in China during the period of 1978-2016,through the distribution of time,the distribution of institutions,the representative figures,the distribution of journals,the focus of research,the cluster view and the time zone view.Results The number of published papers of children's obesity in China had been increasing year by year,and in 1992,it entered into a rapid growth stage,and broke through 300 in 2007.After the first decline in 2008,it became stable.The main core journals were Chinese Joumal of School Health (488),Chinese Journal of Child Health Care (381) and Maternal and Child Health Care of China (297).Representative authors were Ma Jun (64),Mi Jie(46),Liu Geli (38).The authors had formed a cooperative network.Representatives institutions were Peking University (127),Chinese Center For Disease Control And Prevention (91),Children's Hospital Capital Institute of Pediatrics (86).The institutions were independent of each other,lacking of cooperation."Obesity","Overweight","Preschool children","Youth","Nutrition","Insulin resistance" were high-frequency keywords which occurred greater than 200.These keywords were the hot issues in the research of children's obesity in china.The research of Chinese childhood obesity had gone through three stages,namely 1978-1984 (initial stage),1985-2001 (mature stage) and 2002-2016 (deep excavation stage).Conclusion Based on the main core journals,the study on children's obesity problem in our country works in a gradually formed cooperation network with well-known scholars as the center,with much clearer research focus.The relevant scholars and institutions should further strengthen exchanges and cooperation,to push forward the research on childhood obesity.