<p>Using literature published from 2010 onwards, this study investigates the ~3 500 km extension of the shallow shelf current in the South China Sea (SCS) during the winter and summer monsoons. This current is later acknowledged as the South China Sea shallow shelf Current (SCSSC). This current is primarily driven by monsoonal winds, and influenced by regional river plumes [Zhujiang (Pearl) River, Hong River, Mekong River] and the prominent South China Sea Warm Current (SCSWC) and South China Sea Western Boundary Current (SCSWBC). The current exhibits significant seasonal variations in both direction and pattern. During winter, it flows along the northern South China Sea’s (NSCS) shelf and splits into two branches at the east of Hainan Island. One branch enters the Beibu Gulf through the Qiongzhou Strait and forms a major cyclonic circulation within the gulf, while the other branch flows southwestward along the southern coast of Hainan Island. These branches converge around 16°N latitude at the east of the Vietnamese shelf, then flow southward along the Sunda Shelf, where they deflect southwestward in “broadband” forms before curving southeastward along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia (ECPM) and exiting via the Karimata Strait. In summer, the current exhibits a complex pattern. At the Sunda Shelf, it flows northwestward along the ECPM, then deflects northeastward around 6°N latitude, forming the Sunda Shelf’s anti-cyclonic eddy (SSE) and causing upwelling on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia (ECPMU). Near the eastern Vietnamese shelf, the current splits around 11°–12°N latitude into three distinct currents: the southward-flowing Vietnam Current, the northward-flowing Vietnam Meandering Current (VMC), and the southward-flowing SCSWBC. The VMC flows northward and then deflects northeastward south of Hainan Island, continuing northeastward along the NSCS’s shelf and exiting through the Taiwan Strait.</p>