This paper analyzes the role of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in promoting the development of Chinese human geography by focusing on five important research areas identified by the recent discipline progress report. They are land use, urban system, economic globalization, climate change and social and cultural geography. The data we use include all NSFC approved proposals on these research areas from 1986 to 2017. The research topic, research content, research team and main achievement of each of these proposals are analyzed. Our analysis shows that the NSFC plays an important role in promoting Chinese human geography to engage in innovative basic study and to serve national strategic development. The NSFC contributed substantially to the interdisciplinary research, the application of new methods, the growth of new research topics and the construction and expansion of research teams in the development of Chinese human geography. This paper also reports the main progress of Chinese human geography over the past three decades, revealing some important characteristics and development tendency of this discipline. In conclusion, we call for developing a locally grounded and globally influential Chinese human geography through concerted efforts of researcher community and NSFC as a research foundation.