<b>High-Quality SARS-CoV-2 Historical Genomes from China (2020 - 2022): A Curated QC-Passed Dataset (n=157)</b>

This dataset comprises <b>157</b> high-quality, near-full-length SARS-CoV-2 genomes from China (Historical Data), rigorously filtered for completeness (≥29,000 nt) and low ambiguity (≤1% N). Sequences are present as individual FASTA files with city-prefixed names (e.g., Wuhan_EPI_ISL_123456.fasta), accompanied by comprehensive metadata. From an initial 9 GB global dataset, only 157 high-quality Chinese genomes met stringent QC criteria, suggesting either limited deposition of complete sequences from China or a high proportion of fragmented, low-coverage submissions in public repositories. This curated set highlights a critical gap in representative genomic surveillance during the pandemic’s early years.Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0, it permits academic reuse with attribution while prohibiting commercial use, supporting transparent, equitable research on early pandemic viral diversity. Available at: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.30507293