Abstract: Under the background of the rapid construction of high dam projects in China, the high dam hydraulics shows an unprecedented development trend. In this paper, the theory, methods, techniques of high dam hydraulics and its engineering application in recent years were reviewed, including energy dissipation and anti-scouring, cavitation and damage, flow-induced vibration, flood discharge atomization, water-gas two-phase flow and so on. The development trend of high dam hydraulics was summarized from three aspects of profundity, scope and high level, namely, theoretical research is deepened from macro scale to micro scale; research scope is expanded from dam area to watershed; new technology research and development highlights original innovation and systematic upgrading. Through review and outlook, this paper summarized the achievements and challenges of high dam hydraulics in China.