The promotion of remanufacturing for ecological and economical sustainable development lies in an effective and efficient recycling of materials, parts and components of end-of-life products. In this paper, a transverse and vertical analysis methodology is adopted to investigate the status quo of remanufacturing in Pearl River Delta Area (PRDA), one of the rapidest developing regions in China. For a transverse perspective, three industry sectors, i.e., furniture, household appliance and machine tool, are taken as examples to analyze the present situation of remanufacturing in PRDA. For a vertical perspective, strategic driven factors are discussed primarily from government legislation, enterprise motives and social environmental awareness. It is pointed out that the challenges of remanufacturing industry in PRDA are characterized not only by a greater and ever-increasing demand of products when reach their end-of-life, but also by the realization of landfill and the highly detrimental environmental impact of incineration. Since remanufacturing is at an early stage in PRDA, it is suggested that the objective of remanufacturing industry for PRDA should be set to dismantling-recycling-focused scenario, to improve material recycling rate.