Abstract:The lower rate of mechanized harvest of sugarcane was one of the key factors which affected the sustainable development of sugarcane industry in China. Suitable harvesting technology and equipment were the necessary conditions of promoting the development of sugarcane harvesting. The physical and chemical properties of sugarcane during the harvest window, the technical requirements of sugar mills and agronomy for mechanized harvesting, the technical route of machined harvesting, the key technologies and its device of sugarcane harvester, such as dividing and lifting, topping, knocking down, base cutting, conveying, chopping, removing impurities, material collected, and harvesting systems were reviewed. The existing problems of those key technologies and the applicability of domestic and imported harvesters in China were analyzed. China had formed a complete research and manufacturing system, and large, medium and small size sugarcane harvesters have been made. The research and development of sugarcane harvesting machinery in China had two obvious characteristics, one was the topdown research and development tasks and policy guidance, the other was that it was based on the foreign advanced technology.Its technology route of sugarcane harvester and its key technologies were both not innovative enough. The existing harvesters of home made and imported had poor adaptability in China.Their impurity content, field loss rate, stubble damage rate and soil compaction of fields were less acceptable to sugar mills and sugarcane farmers. The suitable harvesting technology and equipment should be developed based on the actual situation of sugarcane industry, sugarcane site and agronomic technology situation. In Yunnan Province, sugarcane was less lodged and its variety stem was brittle, the combined harvesting technology of sugarcane vertical conveying, leaf stripping and baling should be developed. In Guangxi and Guangdong Provinces, it is rainy weather in sugarcane harvest window, and its sugarcane was usually lodged badly. A multi-steps cooperative harvesting technology with knockdown and lying conveying whole stalk harvesting and centralized impurity removal technology should be developed. According to the characteristics of small size and narrow row space in rural sugarcane field, the technology of double-row harvesting should be developed.According to the characteristics of large farm suitable for large and medium machine operation, the agronomic integration technology of wide row spacing and fixed track operation should be developed.