Despite the rising prevalence of online collective behaviors in Mainland China, there is a dearth of research on their categorization and underlying motivations. To fill this gap, we applied grounded theory to identify the major categories of online collective behaviors in China, and conducted a survey study to understand their underlying motivations. Results show Chinese online collective behaviors may take the form of hard, violent confrontations (e.g., burst‐the‐bar attacks), or soft actions (e.g., discussions and voting). In addition, some of these behaviors are geared toward restoration of justice in the social, moral, and political domains (justice‐driven behaviors). Others are directed toward sanctioning counter‐normative behaviors, or “getting even” with aggression against the in‐group (intolerance‐motivated behaviors). Individuals who intend to participate in justice‐driven online collective behaviors perceive the social problems in China to be serious and to need to be addressed collectively. In contrast, individuals who participate in intolerance‐motivated online collective behaviors are those who experience social estrangement. The intention to engage in both types of online collective behaviors increases with the amount of offline social influence.