Abstract: Based on the literature database, the authors retrieved the relevant literatures of shale gas systematically, analyzed the shale gas literature published in China from 1990 to 2013, summarized the overall distribution of the literature and the development process of shale gas in China, and analyzed trends and issues which will be related to the utilization and development of shale gas in the future. The results indicate that the real situation of China's shale gas has not been fully understood, and the key technology of shale gas development has not been mastered. China has not formed a suitable theoretical and technological system for shale gas development. If we intend to develop the shale gas commercially on the basis of local businesses in China, much work has to be done, which, of course, needs quite a long time.