The Chinese Optics Letters (COL) invites original manuscript submissions for a Special Issue on Complex Optical Fields to be published in March 2017. Recently there is an increasing interest in tailored optical fields with complex amplitude, phase, polarization spatial distributions and/or specifically designed temporal waveforms. Scalar optical vortices carrying orbital angular momentum and vectorial vortices such as radially, azimuthally polarized beams are among the most intensively studied examples. The added degrees of freedom arising from the amplitude, phase and polarization diversity within the beam cross-section and tailored waveforms enable scientists and engineers to break the limits imposed by conventional wisdom in many optical and photonic applications. Applications of these complex optical fields in promising areas and new commercial products continue to emerge. This special issue will include excellent review articles and original contributions covering the rapid advances and tremendous breadth of this emerging technical area.