Studies of cosmogenic Be-10 in Chinese loess began about twenty-five years ago and since then a number of research groups worldwide have contributed to a firm understanding of the production, transport, deposition and storage of Be-10 in loess. The essential characteristics that make Be-10 a useful isotopic tracer in loess, include: (1) dominant atmospheric production directly linked to the intensity of the Earth's magnetic field; (2) climate-dependent deposition; and (3) subsequent immobility, so that as Be-10 accumulates in a loess profile its stratigraphic integrity is preserved. This fact, combined with very high deposition rates in loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau, makes Be-10 an especially valuable continental archive of paleoclimate and paleomagnetism, complementing marine and ice-core records. Here we provide in particular the most recent progress of Be-10 tracer studies in Chinese loess, including the determination of the correct age of the Brunhes-Matuyama polarity reversal at 780 +/- 3 ka B.P., in accord with marine and ice records, and quantitative reconstruction of 130-ka paleoprecipitation using Be-10 from Chinese loess profiles. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.