It is endemic to the Tibetan Plateau of western China, where it lives in grassland above elevations of 2,500 m (8,200 ft).

The scientific name Felis bieti was proposed by Alphonse Milne-Edwards in 1892 who described the Chinese mountain cat based on a skin collected in Sichuan Province.

[1] The Chinese mountain cat belongs to an evolutionary Felis lineage that is estimated to have had a common ancestor with the Asiatic wildcat (F. lybica ornata) around 1.5 million years ago during the Middle Pleistocene.

[8] The Chinese mountain cat is endemic to China and lives on the north-eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau.

[12] Between autumn 2018 and spring 2019, Chinese mountain cats were documented in an alpine meadow in the southeastern Sanjiangyuan region.

[13] The Chinese mountain cat is active at night and preys on pikas, rodents and birds.

[3] In July 2023, a Chinese mountain cat was fitted with a GPS collar and released into the wild by the Qinghai Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Center.