The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association and operated by the Chinese Professional Football League (CFL).

Below the Jia League is the Yi League, following the Chinese Heavenly Stems naming convention of numbers.

It is currently made up of 16 teams, playing each other home and away once.

At the end of each season, the top two teams are promoted to the CSL and the two lowest placed teams from the CSL are relegated to China League Two.

The top two teams from China League Two are promoted and replace the two lowest placed teams from China League One.