China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), which is under construction, is a large scientific facility dedicated mainly for multi-disciplinary research on material characterization using neutron scattering techniques. The CSNS Phase-I accelerator will deliver a proton beam with an energy of 1.6 GeV and a pulse repetition rate of 25 Hz to a tungsten target, and the beam power is 100 kW. A white neutron source using the back-streaming neutrons through the incoming proton beam channel was proposed and is under construction. The back-streaming neutrons which are very intense and have good time structure are very suitable for nuclear data measurements. The white neutron source includes an 80-m neutron beam line, two experimental halls, and also six different types of spectrometers. The physics design of the beam line is presented in this paper, which includes beam optics and beam characterization simulations, with the emphasis on obtaining extremely low background. The first-batch experiments on nuclear data measurements are expected to be conducted in late 2017.