Abstract: Self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985a; 2000) is a macro-theory of human motivation and personality. As one of the most important motivational theories, SDT has drawn a lot of interests among researchers from different countries and various disciplines. However, it has not received enough attention from Chinese researchers. The current study gave a systematic review on the literatures relating to SDT which published in both Chinese journals and English journals that with Chinese as participants. It is found that the Chinese papers are mainly review studies, whereas all English papers are empirical studies. In addition, most of these studies are related to education, sport and exercise, organization/management, and psychological health. Further studies should examine the application of SDT among Chinese populations in other fields and investigate the social and individual factors that influence Chinese people’s satisfaction of basic psychological needs, formation of goal content, and internalization of motivation.

Key words: Chinese, basic psychological needs, motivation, social factor, goal content