Pear is the second largest deciduous fruit tree in China. In recent years, many important advances in China have been made in the evaluation and exploitation of pear germplasm resources, unlocking the mechanism of genetic development and breeding of characteristic cultivars. The main achievements contained: (1) defining 13 species of oriental pear originated in China, of which five belong to primary species including Pyrus callryana Dene, P. koehnei Schneid, P. betulaefolia Bunge, P. pyrifolia Burm and P. ussuriensis Max, while three species composing of P. bretshneideri Rehd., P. serrulata Rehd. and P. phaeocarpa Rehd. are hybrids; (2)Breakthrough progress in breeding for high-quality early-maturing pear cultivars. The proportion of early, middle and late ripening pear cultivars were 20:28:52 in 2006 (relative to 7:23:70 in 1994), and the early ripening pear cultivars accounted for nearly 50% in the past 10 years. (3) Korla pear is an indispensable germplasm for pear quality breeding because of its strong hereditary ability ofhigh quality and storage tolerance. Complex genetic background and abundant genetic diversity are the key factors for parent selection in pear quality breeding. (4) Breeding and popularization of high-quality and late-maturing pear cultivars is the key to satisfy the annual supply of high-quality pear market, boost consumer confidence and promote the efficient development of pear industry in China. In view of the current status, two subjects are suggested in the future researches, including: (1) Constantly breeding for elite pear cultivars that represent high-quality, storage-tolerant and extremely late maturity, in order to meet the diversified demands in market; (2) unlocking the development mechanism of quality traits from transcription, translation and modification, by taking use of the modern molecular biology technologies, which might provide the theoretical basis for pear quality breeding.