Abstract: This paper summarizes the way along which Chinese satelliteshave been developed,and shows that the main kinds of satellites which weredeveloped over the past twenty years in China are the application satellites.The main objectives are the satellites,such as communications,remote sen-sing and scientific experiment satellites in earth orbits at different height.The number of China's satellites was not large,but the step of developingwas large,and satellites and ground support facilities have been developedthrough self-reliance.In the meantime,the article presents the applications of Chinese satellitesin education,broadcasting,communications,natural resources,mapping,meteorology,scientific experiment,national defence and etc.In the end of this paper,the development prospect of chinese satelliteapplication in the 1990's is pointed out.