China’s Latin American studies have made great achievements in the past 60 years, while some lingering problems still await being solved. If one compares China’s case with those of Japan and South Korea in terms of the origins and developments, university curricula, research personnel, academic platforms and their functions, and major area issues of Latin American studies, one finds that China’s Latin American studies is facing such structural problems as too loose linkage between linguistic and area studies, insufficient attention to cross-domain and interdisciplinary research, and the clear orientation of emphasizing regional and policy-relevant studies while neglecting the country-specific and basic research. Therefore, in order to further Latin American studies in China, it is now a top priority to strengthen the Spanish and Portuguese researchers' linguistic capacity, to elevate the researchers' comprehensive disciplinary knowledge level, to make Latin American area studies more country-specific, and to enhance the basic research about Latin America.