In China, the restoration of environmental services is currently paid for by central and local governments. This overdependence on public resources to maintain the services provided by healthy ecosystems creates enormous fiscal pressures for the Chinese government, and runs counter to the increasingly accepted principle in China that “beneficiaries should pay” for environmental services. As public coffers become strained with competing needs, a more market-oriented approach—where beneficiaries of environmental service directly compensate environmental service providers—will be important for restoring and maintaining environmental services in China.