As a traditional crop, adzuki bean is widely cultivated in China. It is not only an important export product, but also play an important role in modern planting systems. However, the genetic study of adzuki bean is much lagged, which limited the intensive development of this crop. In this paper, we reviewed the studies on germplasm collection, evaluation, breeding and molecular genetics of adzuki bean. The aim is to provide useful information in improving the genetic or genomics study and accelerate the breeding of adzuki bean in China.