China’s online P2P lending has undergone a roller-coaster period in the past decade with explosive growth initially to become the largest in the world currently. Online lending platforms have mushroomed across the country followed by a free fall in the past couple of years to see the market shrink drastically, with the closure or transformation of most of the platforms. The initial rapid development is a consequence of the simultaneous emergence of three key factors, namely deep penetration of internet, large supply of funds and unmet financial needs. In 2016, China issued an important regulation for online lending, introducing a number of significant measures, such as the restriction on the business model that can be adopted by platforms, registration requirements, custodian requirements, information disclosure requirements and lending limits. The regulation has far-reaching implications, including a reshuffling of the market and more collaboration between online lending platforms and traditional banks. However, now it seems that the regulation has failed to achieve its purposes, due to the problems with both substantive rules and enforcement mechanisms.