The Chang'e-4 probe landed at 1:26pm AEDT and sent a photo of the far side of the moon to the country's Queqiao satellite, which will relay communications back to controllers on Earth, state broadcaster CCTV said.
China Xinhua News was one of the first English speaking outlets to break the news on Twitter, sharing images of the rover moon landing to its 11.8 million Twitter followers.
The website reported that the Chang-e 4 landed on an area "177.6 degrees east longitude and 45.5 degrees south latitude on the far side of the moon".
Another major English speaking Chinese news outlet, China Daily, also tweeted the news to its 3.2 million followers.
Beijing is pouring billions of dollars into its military-run space program, in the hopes of establishing a fully staffed space station by 2022.
The government also hopes to eventually send humans to the moon.
The Chang'e-4 lunar probe mission — named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology — was launched last month from the southwestern Xichang launch centre in China.
The Chang'e-4 probe is carrying six experiments from China and four from abroad, and includes low-frequency radio astronomical studies - aiming to take advantage of the lack of interference on the far side.
The rover will also conduct mineral and radiation tests, the China National Space Administration said according to state news agency.