Stable isotope ratios (carbon,hydrogen and oxygen) in tree rings are closely related to the climate and environment conditions of trees growing period. Controlled experiments suggested that stable isotopes ratios recorded the information of water source, drought, intrinsic water-use efficiency and others. Tree-ring stable isotopes have become one of the important proxies in paleoclimate and global change ecology investigations. Tree-ring stable isotopes could retain low-frequency climate change signals, and it can be used to reconstruct paleo-climate and to study in term of global change in ecology by combing with tree-ring width proxy. Herein, we reviewed the theory of the tree-ring stable isotope fractionation,and assessed the results of the paleoclimate and environment using the tree-ring stable isotopes. We paid more attention on the progresses on the tree-ring stable isotopes over the different climatic regimes of China. We concluded that the tree-ring carbon stable isotope is a good proxy for the temperature variability, and the tree-ring oxygen stable isotope is a good indicator for the moisture condition in arid and semiarid China. Lastly, we suggested the future developing terms of the tree-ring stable isotopes investigations in China.