Profound and long-lasting effects on ecosystems have occurred during the past three decades’ development in China, which have threatened the country's sustainable development. The extent to which the biosphere's annual primary production has been altered by human intervention in China, however, is still unclear. Human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP) has gained great attention and been extensively used as an indicator of sustainability in recent decades. Through the combined use of statistical methods and remote-sensing data, the temporal and spatial features of HANPP in China have been investigated. From 2001 to 2010, HANPP in China increased remarkably, rising from 1.85 Pg C/yr to 2.44 Pg C/yr, an average annual increase of 3.15% per year. Population pressure and rapid economic development may explain this trend to a large degree. To achieve the goal of sustainable development and a “beautiful China,” in the coming years more attention should be paid to increasing the efficiency of land use and biomass extraction, and reducing environmental pollution.