The advances for more than 20 years' studies of methane emission from rice paddy fields in China are reviewed,including the study of methane emission models and estimated methane emission from rice fields; possible techniques for reducing methane emission. Numerical model is an effective method to estimate the total amount of methane emission from rice fields. Model study is now in the developing phase. Several primary models are introduced: physical process model and empirical Model. Estimated methane emission from rice fields is ranging from 6.79 to 41.4Tg/yr. The precision of estimated value has been improved with the development of science and technology and experiments as well. Mitigation methods are necessary to reducing methane emission,but the methods are still in the phase of study and the application of mitigation techniques is not mature.