Urban resilience is an emerging concept in the ecological and environmental literature that considers how the structural complexity and functional diversity of any given city relates to its natural, economic and social aspects. In practical terms, urban resilience is growing in importance to cities worldwide with the support of major international, governmental and private programs. The first part of this paper aims to review the conceptual origin of resilience from ecosystem science and the development of this concept in both engineering and social disciplines. The second part integrates scientific knowledge of urban systems with the conceptual and theoretical developments of urban resilience. The third part concentrates on illustrating current practices in resilient cities in global collaborations with organizations such as the United Nations, Rockefeller Foundation and international enterprises. On the basis of the theoretical reviews of urban resilience and the practical illustrations of resilient cities, the final part proposes the unique opportunities, challenges and solutions that China poses to resilience-oriented development, when considering ecological, economic and societal dimensions.