The 1st China Symposium on the Biology of Actinomycetes was held in Shanghai from December 1-2, 2012, chaired by Prof. Linquan Bai (Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University) and Prof. Zhongjun Qin (Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences), and attracted more than 100 delegates.