The 320-meter-long ship Fujian was launched in June and began its military service this week, according to reports in Chinese state media, which showed footage from a ceremony in Hainan in southern China on Wednesday attended by a couple of thousand people, including President Xi Jinping.
China thus becomes the country in the world with the second most aircraft carriers in service, after the United States, which has a total of eleven. India, Italy and the United Kingdom follow with two each.
Aircraft carriers are huge warships that are used as floating air bases where planes can take off and land.
China's other two aircraft carriers are older models. The first, Liaoning, was originally built in the Soviet Union, and the second, Shandong, was later built in China to a similar model.
