China dominates the global drone industry. But it is fast becoming one of the toughest places to fly one.

中国在全球无人机行业占据绝对主导地位，如今却正迅速成为全球无人机飞行管控最严格的地区之一。

New regulations are sharply tightening rules for recreational and civilian operators. Since January, officials have ramped up the penalties for unauthorized flying of drones to include possible jail time. Starting in May, all drones must be registered with the owners’ real names, requiring operators to link their flight equipment to their official identification or cellphone number.

新出台的规定大幅收紧了针对娱乐及民用无人机操作者的规定。自今年1月起，官方加大了对违规无人机飞行为的处罚力度，处罚措施中甚至包括可能的监禁。从5月开始，所有无人机必须完成所有者实名注册，操作者需将飞行设备与本人官方身份证件或手机号码绑定。

Permits will be required at least a day in advance in restricted zones, which cover most cities. The rules make an exception for small drones flying below 400 feet in some open areas, but those areas are very limited.

覆盖国内绝大多数城市的管控区域内，飞行活动需至少提前一天申请许可。新规仅对部分开放区域内、飞行高度在120米以下的小型无人机设置了许可条款，但这类合规区域极为有限。

Flight data will also be transmitted to the government in real time.

无人机的飞行数据也将实时同步至政府。

Last week, the city government in Beijing went a step further, adopting a near-total ban on drones within the capital’s limits. Under the rules, also set to go into effect in May, drones or their key components may not be sold, rented or brought into Beijing. People entering the city from other provinces will have their bags inspected.

上周，北京市政府进一步加码，在首都范围内实施了近乎全面的无人机禁令。这项同样将于5月正式生效的新规明确，严禁在京销售、出租无人机及其核心零部件，也不得将相关物品带入北京。外省市人员进京时，行李将接受专项检查。

Existing drone owners will be exempt if they register their drones with the police by April 30, though they are also prohibited from having more than three drones at the same address. Drones for special functions, like counterterrorism and research, may be granted exceptions.

现有无人机持有者若在4月30日前向公安机关完成实名登记，可获得合规豁免，但同一地址名下登记的无人机不得超过三架。反恐、科研等特殊用途的无人机，可依规申请许可。

去年在中国南部珠海举办的国际航空展，一个无人机展位。根据新规，用于反恐和科研等特殊用途的无人机可获许可。

China has required drones to be registered and limited to certain areas since 2024. But as the crackdown has escalated in recent months, many drone users say overzealous enforcement has grounded most flights, even for what they believe are legitimate uses. Chinese social media platforms are filled with accounts of users being questioned, fined, detained and having their drones confiscated by the police across the country.

中国自2024年起就已要求无人机完成注册，并限定了合规飞行区域。但近几个月来，随着管控力度持续升级，许多无人机使用者表示，过度严格的执法让绝大多数飞行活动都无法开展，即便是他们认为属于合法用途的情况也不例外。中国各个社交媒体平台上充斥着全国各地用户被警方问询、罚款、拘留，以及无人机被没收的相关描述。

The crackdown has prompted a meme on Douyin, TikTok’s Chinese sister app, featuring a parody of a marketing slogan by the Chinese drone giant DJI — “Don’t let the sky wait too long” — recast as “Don’t let the police wait too long.” A clip featuring the track has been liked and shared more than 60,000 times.

这场严管风潮还催生了抖音上的热门梗：中国无人机巨头大疆的品牌广告语“别让天空等太久”，被网友改编成了“别让（警察）叔叔等太久”。相关配乐视频的点赞和转发量已超6万次。

As of the end of 2025, China had more than three million registered drones, according to official statistics, a 50 percent increase from 2024.

官方统计数据显示，截至2025年底，中国登记在册的无人机数量已超300万架，较2024年增长50%。

The Ministry of Public Security said that tighter regulations were necessary to protect public safety, noting the risks of drone information systems being hacked as well as incidents in which drones had flown at a high altitude, even threatening civil aviation safety. It cited a case in which it said an operator had flown a drone within 800 meters, or about 2,600 feet, of a civil aircraft, and another in which it said a user had flown a drone into a no-fly zone near an airport to film planes’ landing paths. Last year, two drones collided midair and crashed onto a Shanghai skyscraper.

公安部表示，出台更严格的监管规定是保障公共安全的必要举措，并指出无人机信息系统遭黑客攻击的风险，列举了无人机在高空飞行甚至威胁民用航空安全的事件。案例包括一名操作者操控无人机飞至距民航客机不足800米的范围内；另一个案例中，使用者操控无人机闯入机场附近的禁飞区，拍摄飞机降落航线。去年，上海还曾发生两架无人机空中相撞、最终坠落在一栋摩天大楼上的事故。

“The skies are not above the law,” the ministry said.

公安部表示：“天空不是法外之地。”

去年广州某工厂内的一条电动飞行汽车装配线。中国在全球无人机行业占据主导地位。

Officials also said the rules would help pave the way for China’s “low-altitude economy,” the term the government has used for its plans to expand commercial drone usage for purposes including food delivery, power line maintenance and farming. Those plans were highlighted in China’s latest five-year plan, the Communist Party’s economic road map.

官方同时表示，新规将为中国的“低空经济”发展铺平道路。这是政府关于扩大商用无人机应用计划的术语，应用领域包括食品配送、输电线路维护和农业。相关发展规划已被纳入中国最新的五年规划，该规划是中共的国家经济发展蓝图。

Because the government wants to maximize the economic potential of low-altitude airspace, it must first create a better management system for that space, said Li Mo, the director of the Low-Altitude Economy Research Center at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

香港科技大学低空经济研究中心主任李默表示，政府要最大化低空空域的经济潜力，首先必须为这片空域建立更完善的管理制度。

“Much like tidying the living room before hosting guests, we need to first put the airspace in order before embracing larger-scale, low-altitude economy activities,” he said, though he acknowledged that the restrictions could cause short-term confusion.

“这就像招待客人前先要收拾好客厅，我们需要先理顺空域管理秩序，才能迎接更大规模的低空经济活动，”他同时也承认，这些限制措施短期内可能会引发一定的行业混乱。

China may also be weighing potential national security risks. The wars in Ukraine and Iran have made clear the damage that even inexpensive drones can do.

中国此举或许也在权衡潜在的国家安全风险。乌克兰与伊朗的战事已经清晰表明，即便是价格低廉的无人机也能造成巨大的破坏。

The effectiveness of consumer drones in Ukraine to conduct surveillance and strikes “undoubtedly raises concerns in Beijing about this risk to the physical security of its senior leaders,” said Drew Thompson, a former Pentagon official who is now a senior fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

前美国国防部官员、现任拉惹勒南国际研究院高级研究员德鲁·汤普森表示，消费级无人机在乌克兰战场上执行侦察与打击任务，这样的实战效果“无疑让北京对高层领导人的此类人身安全风险产生了担忧”。

(China, as the world’s largest consumer drone manufacturer, has also been a major supplier of drones or their components used in those conflicts. Beijing says that it strictly controls the export of so-called dual-use objects like drones that can be used militarily, but Ukrainian officials say Chinese companies have cut them off while still supplying Russia.)

（作为全球最大的消费级无人机生产国，中国也是上述冲突中所使用的无人机及其零部件的主要供应方。北京表示，对无人机等可用于军事用途的所谓两用物资实施严格出口管控，但乌克兰官员称，中国企业已切断了对乌供应，却仍在向俄罗斯供货。）

去年，乌克兰中部，一群戴着口罩以掩饰身份的乌克兰平民正在组装无人机。乌克兰和伊朗的战争清楚地表明，即便是廉价的无人机也能造成巨大破坏。

As the crackdown widens, a dozen drone users reached by The New York Times said the rules were hindering routine and lawful flights. Most agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity for fear of harassment from the police.

随着管控范围不断扩大，《纽约时报》联系到的十余名无人机使用者均表示，新规阻碍了他们日常的合法飞行活动。由于担心遭到警方滋扰，大多数人同意接受采访的前提是保持匿名。

Cat Yang, a Shanghai resident, said she received preliminary approval from the city government for her school-age son to fly a drone, but she was denied final clearance on the day of the flight. She said the police had offered no explanation. “The police even made fun of me, telling us to buy a toy instead,” Ms. Yang said.

上海居民凯特·杨（音）表示，她此前为学龄期的儿子申请无人机飞行已获得上海市政府的初步批准，在飞行当日，最终许可却被驳回。她称警方未给出任何解释。“警察甚至还取笑我，让我们去买个玩具代替，”杨女士说。

Another drone owner, from northern China, said that he had submitted more than three dozen applications, but that only two were approved.

另一位来自中国北方的无人机持有者表示，他累计提交了30余份飞行申请，最终仅两份获批。

Those approvals were limited to flights below 30 feet and within line of sight. He said the authorities had told him to obtain additional consent from a military airport they said was in the vicinity. When he tried to call the airport, no one answered.

即便是这两份获批的申请也仅限在10米以下、视距范围内飞行。他称，相关部门要求他从据称位于附近的某军事机场获得额外许可，可当他致电该机场时，始终无人接听。

In Beijing, two residents said they received calls from the police as soon as they powered on their drones, even before the city’s new rules were announced. Another said officers had come to their home to ask about drones they had not flown in years.

在北京，有两名居民表示，甚至在本市新规发布前，他们刚一启动无人机，就接到了警方的电话。还有一位居民称，警察上门询问了他已经数年没有飞过的无人机的情况。

The rules have chilled the market. Multiple drone dealers have told Chinese media that their business has fallen precipitously in recent months, while online listings for used drones have surged.

新规给无人机市场浇了一盆冷水。多家无人机经销商向中国媒体表示，近几个月他们的业务量急剧下滑，二手无人机的线上挂牌量则大幅暴涨。

DJI, the world’s biggest drone manufacturer, is also facing pressure abroad. The United States moved in December to ban foreign-made drones on national security grounds, barring new DJI products from the market. DJI responded with a lawsuit in February, seeking to overturn the decision. (The company did not return a request for comment.)

全球最大的无人机制造商大疆在海外也面临着巨大压力。去年12月，美国以国家安全为由采取行动，禁止进口外国制造的无人机，禁止大疆新品进入美国市场。今年2月，大疆提起诉讼，寻求推翻这一禁令。（该公司未回应置评请求。）

北卡罗来纳州希科里一处农场里的一架大疆无人机。大疆新款机型将不在美国销售。

Some experts have called for more flexibility. The chairman of Xpeng, a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer that is investing in flying cars, recently proposed delegating some airspace management to regions, rather than the central government, to better stimulate the low-altitude economy.

部分专家呼吁采取更灵活的政策。正投资研发飞行汽车领域的中国电动汽车企业小鹏汽车董事长，近期提议将部分空域管理权下放至地方，而非由中央政府统一管控，以此更好地推动低空经济的发展。

In an online video, Wang Yadi, the president of a drone-related business group in Huainan, a city in Anhui Province, noted the conundrum facing the industry: “We haven’t developed the low-altitude economy yet, but already the sky is locked up.”

安徽淮南市一家无人机相关行业协会的会长王亚迪（音）在一段网络视频中点出了行业面临的核心困局：“低空经济还没发展起来，天空先被锁死了。”

A 35-year-old drone enthusiast based in northeastern China said he had invested about $2,000 in his DJI drone and related equipment, hoping to start a photography business. But after more than two dozen flight applications were rejected, he abandoned the plan.

一位居住在中国东北地区的35岁无人机爱好者表示，他为大疆无人机及相关配套设备投入了约14000元，希望以此开展摄影业务。但在20多次飞行申请接连被驳回后，他彻底放弃了这个计划。

Song Zhongping, an independent military commentator in China, offered a different argument for why the government should loosen up: Expanding access to drones would help nurture a reserve of drone operators for future wars.

中国独立军事评论员宋忠平则从另一个角度论证政府放宽管控的必要性：扩大无人机的民用普及范围有助于为未来战争储备无人机操作人才。

“If ordinary people can use drones and practice using them in peacetime, that will greatly help in selecting more skilled drone operators during critical moments,” he said.

“如果普通人在和平时期就能使用无人机，进行操作练习，这将极大有助于在关键时刻选拔出更熟练的无人机操作员，”他说。