<p>Lakes play a critical role in the global carbon cycle as a significant dissolved organic matter (DOM) pool and source of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. However, large-scale drivers of lake DOM composition remain poorly understood, as does how they will be modified by climate change. Here, we summarize DOM data and ambient and physico-chemical conditions from 429 lakes in five contrasting limnetic regions across China. The data were extracted from 91 refereed publications and subsequently scrutinized. We found higher abundance of DOM and chromophoric DOM (CDOM) in arid and semi-arid environments than in humid and rainy areas. The CDOM in lakes in the temperate continental and subtropical monsoonal climate biomes originates from both the surrounding terrestrial watersheds and indigenous primary production within the lakes. Yet, terrestrial sources dominate in the plateau and temperate monsoonal climate biomes. Lake eutrophication coincided with accumulation of DOM, CDOM, and humic substances, suggesting that external loadings of nutrients and DOM were coupled. Extreme weather events such as summer heat waves and anomalous precipitation may stimulate the accumulation of DOM and CDOM. In contrast, the mean temperature and annual precipitation at the location of lakes were correlated to low concentrations of DOM and CDOM. Overall, our summary covering a wider range of conditions than examined in previous comparable studies reveals that the concentration and characteristics of DOM in lakes are likely to respond to both eutrophication and climate change, in ways not discernible in studies of narrower environmental gradients.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>