We report the preparation and characterisation of five sediment reference materials MSCS‐1–5 from the China Sea and continental shelf. The raw samples were individually collected from the East China Sea and the South China Sea. They were first ground by ball mill to a homogenous powder of ‐200 mesh (< 74 μm). Then, half of each sample was further processed by an ultra‐fine powder processing technique, a jet mill, to form a powder with an average particle size of < 4 μm (about 800 mesh). The homogeneity was tested by high‐precision WD‐XRF and the precision was found to be less than 1% RSD, which is compatible with the precision range for modern analytical techniques. An F‐test showed that all five samples were homogeneous. Twelve laboratories participated in the cooperative study and sixty constituents were determined. Between fifty and fifty‐two analytes were characterised as recommended values in MSCS‐1–5 in compliance with Chinese national norms. The sum of the major and minor elements or components in the five reference materials MSCS‐1–5 was 99.91%, 99.86%, 100.43%, 100.12% and 99.66%, respectively.