China has made impressive achievements in improving maternal and child health (MCH) over the past few decades. This paper uses a policy lens to examine reasons for these achievements as well as barriers to further success. We found that strong governmental commitment and leadership, effective coordination, proactive participation of different stakeholders, and the provision of adequate resources were associated with China's success in improving MCH outcomes. Other low- and middle-income countries can learn valuable lessons from China's experience. These lessons include i) prioritizing MCH on the national development agenda, ii) keeping national ownership over health development cooperation, and iii) establishing effective monitoring, evaluation and accountability mechanisms for MCH programs.