Capital control policies in China have significant and varied impacts on gross domestic product (GDP) growth distribution, particularly in mitigating downside risks. This column examines the heterogeneous effects of China‘s capital control indices on GDP growth distribution. The findings indicate that although aggregated capital control policies reduce the downside risks in the medium term, they may constrain the upswings of GDP growth in the short term. Notably, outflow control and resident transaction control indices exhibit pronounced short-term heterogeneous effects. The implications show that policymakers should strategically implement capital control measures to balance the benefits of reducing the downside risks with the potential costs of constraining economic growth during upswings.