China has removed a controversial animal test requirement for some types of cosmetics, a move praised by animal rights advocates who hope it signals an end to a practice widely scorned elsewhere.

Starting Monday, the China Food and Drug Administration will stop requiring animal tests on so-called ordinary cosmetics, including shampoos and certain skin-care products. Instead, manufacturers can opt for alternative methods using existing data on ingredient toxicology or tissue culture when they conduct risk assessments.

The new rule does not apply to imported products or any special-use products, including hair dyes and sunblocks. While some industry specialists have cautioned against interpreting this policy shift to mean any big changes in practice in the short term, animal welfare advocates were quick to welcome the development.

On Sunday, more than 50 members of an international anti-animal testing movement celebrated on the streets of Dalian, a coastal city in Liaoning Province in northeastern China. Wearing bunny ears, the campaigners carried 100 cardboard cut-outs of rabbits, the animal most used in cosmetics testing, at the city's iconic Xinghai Plaza and invited members of the public to pose for photos with them.

"It's a significant departure," said Troy Seidle, director of research and toxicology for the Humane Society International, one of the nongovernmental organizations behind the Be Cruelty-Free campaign in China and co-organizer of the Dalian event. "Certainly it's the first time we've seen an animal test requirement being removed from Chinese regulations for cosmetics," he added.

As many as 300,000 rabbits, guinea pigs, mice and other animals are used to test cosmetics in China every year, according to the Humane Society International.

China began requiring safety supervision of cosmetics in 1990, when it required that all special-use products be tested on animals for skin and eye irritation before they could be placed on the market.

In February 2012, the China Food and Drug Administration extended mandatory animal testing to the ordinary products, effectively shutting a multibillion-dollar market to international manufacturers like The Body Shop and Lush cosmetics, both based in Britain, which were committed to nonanimal testing methods.

China has a fast-growing market in cosmetics, importing nearly $1.7 billion last year, up 10.7 percent from the year before.

Following the 2012 regulatory change, some foreign companies, like Avon and Estée Lauder, loosened their no-animal testing policy in order to continue to sell in China.

Estée Lauder said it was simply heeding a foreign law by paying for animal tests on their products in a government-mandated laboratory in China, but critics assailed the company's practice.

"For decades Estée Lauder enjoyed the support of consumers who believed the company's ban on animal tests was permanent," Kathy Guillermo, senior vice president at People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, an advocacy group, said in an email. "When the company quietly resumed its support for animal tests, it did not bother to inform those consumers."

Despite the attention and raised expectations among animal rights groups, the celebration in Dalian was accompanied by an understanding that China is still a long way from ending animal tests.

"The regulation was written with certain caveats (i.e. other technologies need to be available, etc.)," Erin H. Hill, vice president for program development at the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, wrote in an email. "Since many of these have not been met, it is likely that the C.F.D.A. will continue to conduct their post-market surveillance as they have in the past."

In its 2013 announcement of the changes, the national drug safety regulator required provincial food and drug regulators to run sample testing on new products after the manufacturer has filed its toxicology statement. Lack of the know-how and the right materials for in vitro testing — procedures using tissues rather than live animals — means some manufacturers will most likely fall back to animal testing.

"You can change the policy but whether the day-to-day testing practice is going to change is still anyone's guess," said Mr. Seidle. "It is going to be very slow-go for the time being," and "we can't expect China to get there overnight. It's just not reasonable."