Global warming has widely been noticed among scientific researchers while forests are believed essential for stabilizing the climate. This research focuses on the forest restoration phase in China since 1990s. It builds a framework for the relationships between forest transition pathways, identifies explanatory factors through review, and examines how these factors, in association with the pathways suggested by forest transition theory, result in the restoration patterns. From the fifth to ninth National Forest Inventory (NFI), China’s forest area has increased from 158 to 220 million hectare, but the increasing rate slows down in most provinces as time went by. Western provinces have faster restoration rates but the restore pace fluctuates significantly. Pathways to the restoration are multiple, in which forest scarcity pathway indicated by timber products yield contributes most and the globalization pathway measured by export volume of agricultural products impacts least. Correlations of sole factor and the restoration are mostly positive, except construction land, orchard and GDP per capita. This research identifies patterns of forest restoration and decodes how multiple pathways, indicated by explanatory factors, relate to reforestations in China. It enriches the understanding of forest transition since 1990s and generates significant insights to forestry policy makings.