In the present study, the viability of 14 thousands seed accessions, belonging to 34 crops, were detected after being stored at the National Genebank of China for 20 to 23 years. Results showed that the viability of 92.9% of the accessions were higher than 85%. Significant viability decline was detected in 155 accessions from broad bean, red adzuki bean, jute, castor, sugar beet, watermelon, tobacco and forage. A total of 2078 seed accessions from 8 crops, including wheat, soybean, sorghum, millet, cotton, peanut, common bean and watermelon, were uesd for seedling emergence survey. The results showed that each surveyed accession succeeded in seedling emergence, but the emergence percentage of 8 accessions was lower than 10%. The seedling emergence percentage was lower than the mean initial germination percentage. Among the 8 crops, the seedling emergence percentage of common bean was the highest, with a mean value of 86.2% of 126 accessions, which was only 9.3% lower than the initial germination percentage. The lowest seedling emergence percentage was found in millet seeds, with a mean value of only 39.2%, which was 51.3% lower than the initial germination percentage. To sum up, most of the collections in the National Genenbank of China can be safely conserved for more than 20 years, especially the cereal seeds, but as for the seed accessions that had showed significant reduction in the mean monitored germination percentage, for example, broad bean, red adzuki bean, etc, the viability should be monitored more frequently in order to assure the long-term safe conservation of these germplasm.