Abstract:This paper is a brief summary of the development of the geological science in China. In the present stage of accelerated development of science and technology at the end of the century, it is deemed that the geological science in China is destined to prosper, as viewed from the increasing society needs, the scientific problems and the basic technological background provided by the society, the three basic elements for the development of science. In the following we will give a brief review of the main achievements arrived at in the past several stages.First, the achievements of the geological science before the foundation of New China. Owing to the foresight and sagacity of our founders and the hard, creative works of the first generation of geologists trained in China the geological science of China had already won a world fame in the twenties and early thirties in this century. It was in the war years of the late thirties and forties that Li Siguang (1939) and Huang Jiqing (1945) published their famous books "The Geology of China" and " On Major Tectonic Forms of China".From the forties to the mid-seventies, the geological science in China had undergone a rapid development. The large-scale geological mapping all over the country had provided rich material for basic geological research. Serial publications on stratigraphy and paleontology appeared in the early sixties. Various tectonic ideas or schools were set up. Discovery of new minerals began in the fifties and numbered to a total 83 up to present. Oil and gas prospecting had promoted basin studies. Hydrogeology and engineering geology flourished in the sixties owing to large-scale construction. The 1 ?4 million Geological Map of China and thel : 5 million Geological Map of Asia were published in the mid-seventies.From the end of seventies onwards, the geological science in China has undergone an overall development as a result of the recovery of international academic exchange under the Open Policy. All basic and applied branches of geological research have been greatly improved through the introduction of new ideas and techniques, such as the plate tectonics theory and deeper part geology. Such keen problems as granite formation and ultra-high pressure metamorphism have received due attention. Atlases of paleogeography, seismic geology and geophysics were compiled. Studies on new disciplines and techniques such as paleontology and geochemical mapping have also started.It is clear that, with the acceptance of the new concept of the earth system science by the majority of geologists, all branches of geological studies will merge into comprehensive and coor-dinative research, and the geological science of China will be an entirely new stage of development in the coming century.