As a discipline of studying on relationship between industrial development and ecological environment, industrial ecology needs to make contributions to major strategies of sustainable transition and eco-civilization of China. This paper reviews and prospects the development of industrial ecology in China. The first finding is that China's industrial ecology has multiple origins, stemming from the inheritance of the traditional Chinese philosophy, the distillation of various engineering disciplines and experience from the former Soviet Union. After entering the new century, the development of industrial ecology in China has been greatly influenced by the western academic system. China has gradually established systems of education, research and institutionalization. These achievements are embodied in the curriculum design, discipline development, organization construction and research publication. Some representative themes and topics are reviewed and included in this column, such as life cycle assessment and industrial symbiosis, etc.. After exploring its realistic, theoretical and political bases, this paper presents the following suggestions. We need to further observe, summarize and refine the past experience on industrialization, urbanization and pollution prevention; we need to focus on and respond to the core issues concerning China's fundamental and strategic needs; we need to establish the Chinese school of industrial ecology and strengthen our influences; we need to accelerate the construction of industrial ecology education systems and attract more and more young people; we need to take the grand challenges brought by ecological civilization and accept this historical mission.