The Rufous-cheeked Laughingthrush occurs on Hainan in China, in northern Vietnam, and in eastern Laos. Some older treatments grouped it with the Grey Laughingthrush; this account follows the current treatment of Garrulax castanotis as a separate species.
The nominate Hainan form has a grey body, black face, throat and upper breast, and a rufous-chestnut cheek patch. The northern Vietnam and eastern Laos form, varennei, is described with a smaller white patch.
In broadleaf evergreen forest it forages from the leaf litter to the middle storey, often in groups, feeding on insects.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.