Hurricanes and typhoons is one of the main climatic disasters in the coastal areas in tropical and temperate zones, and studying their impacts on forest ecosystems is a significant challenge in ecology. This paper reviews the types of damage they cause to trees and forest stands and the factors that influence this damage. The main types of damage include uprooting, loss of the crown, stem breakage, and defoliation. The damage varies as a function of tree species, tree age, forest type, tree height, topographic location, and other characteristics. The vulnerability of a species to damage can be mostly explained by their canopy position. Recovery of forest ecosystems after typhoon and hurricane depends on a combination of seedling growth and resprouting of damaged canopy trees. Non-pioneer species tend to dominate the early recovery process due to their ability to survive the storm and generate new branches. Changes in the litter inputs, litter decomposition rates, and forest carbon pool size after hurricanes and typhoons are complicated, and depend mainly on the stand type, stand location, and elapsed time after disturbance. The recovery pathways and mechanisms relate to the severity of canopy damage on a broad scale, as well as to light and moisture availability. Rapid flowering and fruiting, combined with an adequate soil seed bank, contribute to the recovery of damaged forests. Assessments of the impacts of these storms at landscape and regional scales have also received much attention. These studies used modeling combined with meteorological data, remote sensing, and field surveys to simulate and quantify the impacts and the ecosystem response. Modeling can reveal the effects of topography on wind direction and the relationship between forest damage and the wind speed and duration, and can determine both landscape- and site-level exposure to disturbance. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential directions for future research in China.