Climate change presents the main characteristics of warming, change of precipitation patterns and increase of extreme weather and climate events over the past century. Climate change in China has regional differentiation and impacts on wetland ecosystem in different ways. By changing the water temperature, soil temperature and hydrological rhythm of the wetlands, climate change affected wetland ecosystem pattern and process and even the succession of wetland ecosystem. This study summarized the impacts of climate change on spatial distribution and main ecological functions of inland wetland ecosystem in China from 4 aspects: the influences on area and distribution of the wetlands, eco-hydrological process, biodiversity, and wetland ecosystem carbon cycle. It was found that effects of climate change on spatial distribution and ecological functions of the wetlands were by water supply and hydrological processes of the wetlands. Under the background of climate changing, area of the wetlands supplied by snow melt water increased gradually. The area of the wetlands fluctuated obviously in humid region, and reduced in semi-humid region with climate warming. However, to some extent, climate change mitigated the shrink of the area of the wetlands in the arid region. At the same time, eco-hydrological process of the wetlands such as water level and hydro-period was indirectly was affected by climate change through precipitation and evapotranspiration, biodiversity of the wetlands was seriously threatened by climate warming through habitat degradation and population reduction, and carbon cycle of the wetland ecosystem was also changed through accelerating emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. The research results would provide a scientific basis for wetland ecosystem risk assessment and adaptive management policy making under the background of climate change.