The role of human papillomavirus (HPV) as an etiologic factor of cervical cancer has been firmly established, and prophylactic vaccines are now available and have been approved in many countries. Vaccination implies a promising future for cervical cancer prevention especially for countries with very limited access to screening. However, the vaccines are not accessible in mainland China at the moment, and much needs to be understood about the potential benefit when HPV vaccines are applied to Chinese women, and to make the vaccines more specific to Chinese women. This article reviews advanced multi-center, hospital/population-based studies of most recent years, and aims to draw a definitive conclusion on HPV prevalence and genotyping in cervical cancer and precancerous lesions in China from the aspect of study population, geographic areas and time period.