Natural disasters, new urbanization and urban renewal activities generated a large amount of construction and demolition waste (C&DW), and managing C&DW has become an urgent problem to be solved in the construction of "Zero-waste cities". Based on the calculation of C&DW generation in China from 2005 to 2019, this study analyzed the temporal and spatial characteristics of C&DW generation in China, and empirically explored the factors influencing factors C&DW of China using spatial autocorrelation and geographically weighted regression. The results showed that: (1) C&DW generation in China increased every year, and the overall distribution was characterized as "high in the east and low in the west", with distinct regional differences. The provinces with the highest per capita C&DW generation were Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Beijing, Shanghai, and Fujian. The generation intensity of C&DW in China and all its provinces showed a decreasing trend every year. The regions with rapid growth of C&DW generation in China were concentrated in the eastern coastal areas, with distinct differences between the east and west, and there was significant spatial heterogeneity in the growth trend.(2) There is a significant spatial autocorrelation in C&DW generation in China. Overall, the hot spots for C&DW generation were distributed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shandong provinces, and the spatial agglomeration effect of C&DW generation in provinces was evident. (3) Factors such as population size, per capita Gross Domestic Product and the scale of the construction industry played a positive role in promoting C&DW generation in each province, whereas labor efficiency played a negative role inhibiting C&DW generation; there was significant temporal and spatial heterogeneity. Finally, differentiation and cross-regional joint treatment strategies according to regional conditions were proposed to achieve precise measures of C&DW reduction management.