Defining and sticking to an ecological red line has become an important strategy for protecting ecosystems in China，and important measure in reforming the ecosystem protection management system and advancing eco-friendly civilization.It reflects China’s policy orientation of conducting ecosystem protection by compulsory means.This paper explains the ecological red line system in terms of concept，characteristics and problems challenges on the basis of the context where the ecological red line was proposed and of its significance.It also provides recommendations on how to facilitate the implementation of the ecological red line strategy.