Abstract: The exploration and development of natural gas hydrate in China is still in the initial stage, and it is of great significance to systematically sum up the current status and the challenges of natural gas hydrate industry.The paper reviews the progress of natural gas hydrate exploration, development and policy planning in China.Then it analyzes the hindering factors of natural gas hydrate in the short run and the medium and long term, mainly including the resources potential, technology innovation, production cost, unconventional oil and gas industry development, the supervision system, technology diffusion, environmental problems and geological disasters.Finally, the paper puts forward the following countermeasures:increasing investigation of natural gas hydrate resources; strengthening research of natural gas hydrate exploration and development technology; formulating support policy as soon as possible; carrying out international cooperation actively; establishing natural gas price forecasting mechanism and striving to grasp the market trends of unconventional oil and gas.