Abstract:A total of 17 127 maize varieties were approved by the 31 maize variety approval committees in China from 1979 to 2020 and its number was reduced to 14 121 after the removal of the repeatedly approved varieties. Over the past 40 years, seven maize varieties(Zhengdan958, Zhongdan9409, etc.) were succeeded to get past the examination and approval for more than 10 times. The approved number of maize varieties was greater than 100 in six of different maize breeding institutes(Shandong Denghai Seed Industry Co., Ltd., Corn Research Center of Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, etc.). Chang 7-2, Ji 853, Dan 598, Dan 340, and Ye 478 were the five most widely used inbred lines and more than 50 approved varieties were bred by each of them. The number of maize varieties planted larger than 266.67×104 ha(Accumulative extension area) and longer than 20 years were 34(Zhengdan958, Zhongdan2, etc.) and 6(Zhengdan958, Huidan4, etc.), respectively. These observations highlight the close relationship of the approved number with the seed industry policy and the importance of enterprises on maize commercial breeding. In addition, the lack of core germ plasm resources is the bottleneck of maize breeding and the maize variety approval system is expected to be optimized in the future.