In recent years, China has experienced frequent rain and flood disasters, which result in serious losses of lives and property. The recent heavy rainfall in Beijing from July 29th to August 2nd in 2023 once again highlighted the insufficient capacity of rain and flood resilience in China. The occurrence of rain and flood disasters is influenced by a multitude of factors. For instance, the primary external factor is urban heat island, which results in an escalation in the duration and frequency of rainstorms, including extreme ones. Additionally, there are internal factors such as unsustainable urban development that leads to fragmented blue-green infrastructure, thereby compromising water regulation and storage capacity. Furthermore, the standards for preventing and controlling waterlogging in grey infrastructure have been lowered. With urbanization coinciding with urban heat island both temporally and spatially, the number of factors contribute to rain and flood disasters in China increase. In contrast, the Netherlands, known as the world's lowest-lying country with 25% of its land situated below 1m below sea level, experienced numerous devastating floods. Notably, four major floods occurred in 1916, 1953, 1993 and 1995 respectively, resulting in significant losses of life and property. The unique natural conditions compelled the Dutch to embark on an extensive and arduous exploration of water governance. Since the 1990s, the Netherlands has increasingly relied on hydrological processes within its water ecosystem. The Dutch have successfully integrated both grey infrastructure and blue-green infrastructure while employing a combination of engineering and non-engineering measures for water control purposes. Consequently, they have made great achievements in addressing rainfall events and flood occurrences. Over time, the Dutch has experienced a transition process from “working against water” to “working with water” in the concept of water governance. This article firstly introduces the Dutch general situation, typical projects of water governance and the administrative framework of water governance. Secondly, the main experiences of water governance are analysed including a three-level collaborative system, a framework of integrating between water governance and spatial planning, a multi-level rain and flood risk prevention system, strategies of room for more resilient space. Thirdly, drawing from the Dutch experiences and considering the specific conditions in China, the article puts forwards nine suggestions such as adopting a bottom-line thinking approach, enhancing vulnerability awareness and problem-based solutions, scaling hydrological processes, improving blue-green network connectivity, combining grey infrastructure upgrades with nature-based solutions, expanding effective disaster relief support, establishing a top-level system framework for water governance, and integrating rain and flood resilience concepts into spatial planning. etc. The paper can serve as a valuable reference for implementing spatial planning for rain and flood resilience in China.