Abstract: Cycads are an ancient lineage of seed plants that appeared ca. 320 million years ago. They are highly valuable to horticulture, and are extensively cultivated. As a result of over-collecting for flower market, as well as habitat destruction, cycad plants have become threatened and endangered species. Since the founding of Cycad Society of China subordinating to Botanical Society of China in 1994, research and conservation of cycads in China has been rapid and fruitful and the major achievements are summarized as follows: (1) Since 1992, much field work has been carried out in China. Now, ca. 24 species have been recognized in China (but only 7 species in 1978). In particular, significant discoveries of Cycas multipinnata and C. debaoensis with tripinnately compound leaves have demonstrated that Chinese cycads are extremely diverse and interesting. Chinese cycads account for ca. 25% of the total known species, and represent 4 out of the 5 sections in the genus. (2) A series of studies on cycads in China have been undertaken in regards to taxonomy, ecology, paeleobotany, anatomy, and cytology. (3) The Fourth International Conference on Cycad Biology was successfully held in Panzhihua, Sichuan under the auspices of Cycad Society of China in May 1996. (4) There has been a new classification system of Cycas proposed by D.Y. Wang (1996, 2000) principally based on seed structure. (5) CHEN Chia-Jui et al. (2003) first made comments on Epicycas de Laubenfels (1998) and Dyerocycas Nakai (1943), and expounded their generic concept of Cycadaceae. They pointed out that Epicycas must be a superfluous and illegitimate name, and Dyerocycas should be reset as a section of Cycas. (6) The Panzhihua Cycad reserve and ex situ Cycad Conservation Center in Shenzhen Fairy Lake Botanical Garden have been launched. In the first ten years of 21th century, it is necessary to constantly link our research closely with the nalional cycad protection engineering project in China and to carry out more comprehensive field studies as well as multi-disciplinary comprehensive studies on cycads.