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Coral restoration is becoming popular to help restoring degraded coral reefs.However,few studies have tried to monitor the long-term recovery of coral reefs,which makes it difficult to assess the performance of the restoration.We monitored the growth of three transplanted Acropora corals and naturally-attached Pocillopora damicornis on artificial reefs(ARs)from October 2014 to September 2018 during which there were several attacks of typhoons.Results show that two staghorn Acropora species had the highest growth rates(11.0-12.1 cm/a),followed by table coral A.divaricate(5.6 cm/a)andP.damicornis(4.8 cm/a).A linear growth pattern was found for the three Acropora species;the pattern gradually slowed in P.damicornis.There was a strong interspecific competition for space among the corals on ARs,and it led to the sharply declined occurrence of slow-growing P darmicornis colonies in 2017.Coral recovery was successful at the Wuzhizhou Island and quickly increased AR complexity.However,the ARs made of metal frames fail to resist the direct attack from a catastrophic typhoon.Therefore,concrete and environmental-friendly materials should be used in future restoration.This study is the first report on long-term monitoring and assessment of coral reef restoration in China.The results offer future guide of reef restoration for impaired coral reefs in regions easily affected by typhoons.