Asian parti-colored bats are distributed across East Asia, from Taiwan through eastern China, eastern Mongolia and Russia (Siberia) to the Korean Peninsula and Japan (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu).

It was described as a new species in 1880 by German naturalist Wilhelm Peters.

Its species name "sinensis" comes from Latin Sinae, meaning "China."

[2] The species was known as V. superans until 1997 when it was demonstrated that V. sinensis should be used under the nomenclature rule known as the Principle of Priority.

[4] Its range includes several countries and regions in eastern Asia, such as China and Taiwan, Japan, North and South Korea, Mongolia, and Siberia.