The taxonomy of the fern genus Arachniodes Blume in China is rather complicated with the creation of many new names since the 1960's. The purpose of this article is to make a clarification of the genus as a whole from China and provide an enumeration of what is known at present. Through herbarium studies and field observations, the distribution, morphological criteria and subdivision of the genus Arachniodes from China are discussed. The total number of species has been reduced from ca 130 names to 58 names, some of which are still in need of studies to prove their acceptance. A subdivision of four sections is adopted and further completed, i.e. sect. Cavaleria, sect. Globisorae, sect. Amoenae , and sect. Arachniodes; and for the 50 species names included in the section Arachniodes, 10 species groups were proposed for the purpose of further comparison. Names of taxa that belong to Arachniodes known from China are enumerated in alphabetical order with information about their synonyms, their distribution and the sections and groups in which they are categorized.