An inventory of chromium emission into the atmosphere and water from anthropogenic activities in China was compiled for 1990 through to 2009. We estimate that the total emission of chromium to the atmosphere is about 1.92×10⁵ t. Coal and oil combustion were the two leading sources of chromium emission to the atmosphere in China, while the contribution of them showed opposite annual growth trend. In total, nearly 1.34×10⁴ t of chromium was discharged to water, mainly from six industrial categories in 20 years. Among them, the metal fabrication industry and the leather tanning sector were the dominant sources of chromium emissions, accounting for approximately 68.0% and 20.0% of the total emissions and representing increases of 15.6% and 10.3% annually, respectively. The spatial trends of Cr emissions show significant variation based on emissions from 2005 to 2009. The emission to the atmosphere was heaviest in Hebei, Shandong, Guangdong, Zhejiang and Shanxi, whose annual emissions reached more than 1000t for the high level of coal and oil consumption. In terms of emission to water, the largest contributors were Guangdong, Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang, where most of the leather production and metal manufacturing occur and these four regions accounted for nearly 47.4% of the total emission to water.