Assessment of Beach Vulnerability to Coastal Erosion in China Considering Protective Measures in Beach Area

China’s coastal zones are vulnerable to coastal erosion because of the dense population and developed economy. To better understand the impact of coastal erosion on China’s coastal communities, this study investigated the distribution of existing sandy beaches and local protective measures. Then, the beach vulnerability to coastal erosion in Chinese coastal zones was assessed based on Coastal Vulnerability Index method. Twelve indicators covering exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity were selected, namely sandy beach area, beach slope, sea-level rise, wave height, storm surge loss, land subsiding rate, population density, tourism GDP ratio, marine fishery production, public budget, beach-protected rate, and mangrove area. The results indicated that the very low, low, moderate, high, and very high degrees of vulnerability accounted for 7.2, 15.4, 17.6, 41.6 and 18.2% of the Chinese sandy coastlines. About 60% of the sandy coastlines in China are highly vulnerable to coastal erosion, which is mainly distributed on the southeast coast, as well as Zhoushan Island and Hainan Island.