Simplified Chinese Pokemon Sets: A Release Timeline, 2022 to 2026

By CardSpicy Founder · October 4, 2026

Quick answer

Simplified Chinese Pokemon cards have run on 18 main sets since the language launched on 28 October 2022, when Storming Emergence arrived. The line runs through three eras — two Sun and Moon sets, six Sword and Shield sets and ten Scarlet and Violet sets — and reaches Together in Pursuit of Glory, released 16 July 2026. Alongside the main sets sit the Gem Pack volumes, the four Collect 151 editions and the 30th Celebration release, which do not carry set numbers in the same way.

This page is the release timeline. If you are holding a code and want to decode it rather than date it, the page for that is how to read a Simplified Chinese set code, and the full code list is the reference table behind this one.

Why the timeline begins in October 2022

The Simplified Chinese branch did not grow out of the Japanese or English lines; it was built for the mainland China market and started from zero. The official announcement came in September 2022 and the first product shipped on 28 October 2022. That is the reason every date on this page sits inside a four-year window: before late 2022 there is no Simplified Chinese set to date at all.

Because the format started late, it has been catching up ever since, and the pace of that catch-up is the single most useful thing on this page. A collector who knows how fast the sets arrive can judge how long a new card will stay the newest thing in the format before the next wave moves it along.

Every main set, in order

The table is the spine of the branch: 18 main sets, one release date each, in the order they shipped. Everything else on this page — the booster decks, the Gem Pack volumes, the Collect 151 editions — is a side line hanging off this spine.

The Sun and Moon era: October 2022 to January 2023

The branch opened on the Sun and Moon era, and it opened carefully. Two main sets in the first four months, then a pause before the era mark changed:

• Storming Emergence (CSM1a) — 28 October 2022
• Shining Synergy (CSM2a) — 18 January 2023

A single booster deck, Battle Elite (CSM1.5), filled the gap between the two sets in December 2022. This is the thinnest stretch of the whole record and the one where the least artwork was commissioned, which matters to anyone working backwards from a card in hand to the set it came from.

The Sword and Shield era: May 2023 to November 2024

From May 2023 the branch found its rhythm. Six main sets in eighteen months, each roughly three months after the last, with a booster deck in the gaps:

• Dynamax Clash (CS1a) — 19 May 2023
• Vivid Portrayals (CS2a) — 18 August 2023
• Primordial Arts (CS3a) — 17 November 2023
• Polychromatic Gathering (CS4a) — 1 March 2024
• Gallant Galaxy (CS5a) — 18 June 2024
• Marine Shadow (CS6a) — 20 September 2024

The booster decks are easy to miss because they share the code shape of the main sets — CSM1.5, CSM2.5, CS1.5, CS2.5, CS3.5, CS4.5, CS5.5, CS6.5, CSV9.5 — but they are separate products with their own card lists. A code with a .5 in it is a booster deck, not a main set.

The Scarlet and Violet era: January 2025 to July 2026

The current era is the densest. Ten main sets in nineteen months, and the first time the branch ran a main set, a Gem Pack volume and a Collect 151 edition on the same day:

• Ancient Times, Future Progress (CSV1) — 17 January 2025
• Miracle Journey (CSV2) — 21 March 2025
• Fearless Terastal (CSV3) — 16 May 2025
• Bonus Round (CSV4) — 18 July 2025
• Ardent Obsidian (CSV5) — 12 September 2025
• Arcane Truth (CSV6) — 7 November 2025
• Blade Awakening (CSV7) — 16 January 2026
• Sparkling Fable (CSV8) — 13 March 2026
• Stellar Crystal (CSV9) — 15 May 2026
• Together in Pursuit of Glory (CSV10) — 16 July 2026

The era also changed how the branch relates to the Japanese line. Where the early Chinese sets combined several Japanese releases at once, the Scarlet and Violet sets have tracked the current generation much more closely as it released, which is part of why the pool of Chinese-only artwork grew so quickly inside this era.

The side lines: Gem Pack, Collect 151 and the 30th

Three products sit beside the main sets and do not count with them. Gem Pack is an all-foil mini set organised by Pokemon rather than by a numbered checklist, and it launched in the Scarlet and Violet era:

Collect 151 is the Chinese take on the 151 set, released in four editions through 2025, each adding its own Pikachu art rare:

30th Celebration followed on 26 February 2026 as a global simultaneous release, and it is the anniversary line the branch shares with the other languages rather than one it owns. Between them, these three lines are the reason the newest cards on the site are not always the newest main set.

Booster decks in full

What the pace tells a collector

Read as a rate rather than a list, the record says three things. The branch started slow: one set in 2022, four in 2023, three in 2024, then six in 2025 and four by July of 2026, so the busy years are the recent ones. The average gap between main sets is about 80 days, but the average hides the change — the gaps early on were longer and the later ones shorter. And the era marks line up with the acceleration: the switch to the Scarlet and Violet mark in January 2025 is the same moment the branch began running two or three products at once.

For a collector the practical use is scarcity by age. A card from the Sun and Moon era has had the longest to be absorbed and the fewest companions printed beside it, while a card from the current era shares its shelf with a main set, a Gem Pack volume and a promo line all within a few months. The date in the table is the first thing to check before any other question about a Chinese card.

Frequently asked questions

When did Simplified Chinese Pokemon cards start?

The language launched on 28 October 2022 with its first set, Storming Emergence, marked CSM1a to CSM1c. Everything on this page happens after that date, so the whole Simplified Chinese branch is a little under four years old.

How many main Simplified Chinese sets have there been?

Eighteen main sets, from Storming Emergence in October 2022 to Together in Pursuit of Glory in July 2026. They run across three era marks: two Sun and Moon sets, six Sword and Shield sets, and ten Scarlet and Violet sets.

Why do early sets use CSM and CS codes, and later ones CSV?

The letters are the era, not the language. CSM marks the Sun and Moon era, CS the Sword and Shield era, and CSV the Scarlet and Violet era. The trailing C is the part that means Simplified Chinese; it is printed on every card of the branch, whatever the era.

How often does a new Simplified Chinese set come out?

The eighteen main sets land across roughly 1357 days, an average of about 80 days apart. The rhythm was slower at the start and faster after the Scarlet and Violet era began, when the branch settled into a new main set about every two months.

Are the Simplified Chinese sets translated from the Japanese or English ones?

They combine source sets rather than translate one line. An early Simplified Chinese set drew its cards from several Japanese releases at once, which is why one Chinese set can read as the equivalent of more than one Japanese set. That is also why the codes do not line up with the Japanese ones.

Sources

Sources and further reading

1. The official Simplified Chinese launch announcement and product announcements, read at pokemon.cn on 4 October 2026.
2. Set release dates reproduced from CardSpicy listings and cross-checked against published set release tables, read on 4 October 2026.
3. CardSpicy — How to read a Simplified Chinese Pokemon set code, for decoding a code rather than dating it.
4. CardSpicy — Simplified Chinese Pokemon set codes: full list, the reference table behind this timeline.
5. CardSpicy — Gem Pack Vol. 1 to 6, the volume-by-volume guide.

Release dates quoted here are mainland China release dates. Set names are given in the widely used English renderings; where a set is listed elsewhere on this site under a different English name, the code is the same. Prices quoted on this site are secondary-market observations at the dates cited.

Related reading

If you are dating a set, you are one step from dating a card. Chinese versus Japanese Pokemon cards covers the language split, how many Simplified Chinese-exclusive cards there are is the count by year, and how we count and rank Chinese cards explains the method behind both.

Where to go next

• The CardSpicy card index — every card we track, with its PSA 10 population and market history (195 cards).
• The illustrator index — every artist behind those cards, card by card (110 artists).