The world's second largest economy shipped in 3.73 million t of LNG in December, topping the previous record of 2.66 million t in November and up from 2.10 million t a year ago.
China's government in 2014 launched an offensive on pollution to reverse the damage done by decades of growth.
For the whole of 2016, China's LNG imports rose 32.8% to 26.06 million t.
The nation's December diesel imports climbed 166.1% from the same month a year earlier to 110 000 t, while kerosene imports fell 2.3% on the year to 290 000 t.
