The major problems of China’s plastic bag restriction policy were further exposed in 2009，one year after the policy went into effect. On one hand，paid plastic bags are losing their popularity，risking the fruit that had been reaped. On the other hand，the ultra-thin bag ban is running out of its effectiveness without real implementation. Two main reasons contribute to the failure：the big gap between the goals and the practical conditions of the policy，and the lack of follow-up action and administrative resources input. In order to step out of this dilemma，the Chinese government，retailers and environmental groups need to make more efforts to revise and improve the policy，and make it more effective in reducing plastic bag use.