This native of central and southern China grows in the provinces of Anhui, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Yunnan, and also locally in northern Vietnam.

Liriodendron chinense is very similar to the American species, Liriodendron tulipifera, differing in the often slightly larger and more deeply lobed leaves, and in the shorter inner petals in the flowers, which lack the orange pigment of L. tulipifera.

It is a street tree at the University of Victoria and along the Veterans' Memorial Parkway in Langford, British Columbia.

A cultivar (J.C.Raulston) with leaves larger and darker than typical has been developed in North Carolina.

[8] In the United Kingdom L. chinense has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.