China has a total of 1,445 bird species and is one of the countries with the richest bird diversity in the world. Species traits  strongly  determine  the  species’  ability  to  persist  in  a  variety  of  environments  and  are  fundamental  to  ecological,  evolutionary  and  conservational  research.  Therefore,  it  is  important  to  collecting  data  on  life-history,  ecological  and  geographic traits of Chinese birds. However, so far, no efforts have been made to gather such trait data of Chinese birds. The aim of this study is thus to provide a comprehensive dataset of natural history traits for Chinese birds. We collected data  on  17  traits  related  to  geographical,  morphological,  ecological  and  life-history  features  for  the  1,445  species  of  Chinese  birds.  Between  2015  and  2021,  we  compiled  data  by  systematically  searching  all  related  literature,  including  academic ornithological books, field guides, peer-reviewed scientific publications, Baidu Scholar, Google Scholar and specialized websites. The 17 traits included body mass, body length, bill length, wing length, tail length, tarsus length, primary  diet,  clutch  size,  egg  size,  egg  volume,  nest  site,  nest  type,  flocking  status,  migrant  status,  endemic  status,  biogeographic  distribution  and  the  number  of  provinces  distributed  of  Chinese  birds.  However,  data  completeness  varied from 60.83% to 100% among traits. Except for migrant status, endemic status, biogeographic distribution and the number  of  provinces  distributed,  the  data  on  other  traits  were  incomplete  to  some  extent.  Flocking  status  was  only  available for 60.83% of Chinese birds. Our dataset is the latest and most complete one on species traits of Chinese birds. The  dataset  will  be  helpful  for  advancing  the  research  fields  of  ecology,  evolution,  biogeography,  and  conservation  biology in Chinese birds.