Abstract: Vibrio Parahaemolyticus is the major pathogen causing food-borne disease in China. This paper summarizes the progress in research of etiological and molecular epidemiological characteristics of V. parahaemolyticus in recent 5 years. The research indicated that there was obvious difference in the etiological characteristics between clinical isolates and environmental isolates. The clinical isolates mainly belonged to serotype O3:K6, and 80% of the clinical isolates carried tdh gene and(or) trh gene. The predominant PFGE pattern of the clinical isolate was obvious, consistent with the serotype. But the environmental isolates had no predominant serotype and PFGE pattern, their carriage rate of tdh gene or trh gene( 6%) was lower than that of clinical isolates. The drug resistance of the clinical isolates varied with area, and the resistance to ampicillin was high. While the drug resistance of environmental isolates was more serious and complex.