Fish passage has garnered the attention of worldwide researchers for hundreds of years. However, China developed fish passage only since 1960s and almost vacant research and application since 1980s, until 2000s. Fish passage research and application became popular in China in the late 10 years mainly because the law regulation. There is a large gap between the willing to protect fish and actual fish passage efficiency, due to many reasons including the understanding of fish protection from stakeholder, limited knowledge on fish biology, concept update of fish passage design, and management. Even though, researchers and engineers are enthusiastic to develop fish passage. Future development should mainly focus on 1. Reinforce the acknowledgement of ecological protection. 2. Clarify parties responsible for fish passage construction, operation and management in laws. 3. Cultivate professional experts. 4. Develop global intelligence consultation. 5. Strengthen fundamental research related to fish biology and hydraulics. 6. Enact the standards for fish passage construction in China. 7. Optimize operation management on fish passage. 8. Establish the fish passage effectiveness assessment mechanism, and connect assessment to the project’s benefit and the builder’s credit.