Abstract: The city is a natural result of economic development, which is characterized by dense population, developed economy, and centralized infrastructure. The urban security has been a widely concerned problem. Seismic security in cities has been attended by government and society, and is also one of the hot issues of academic research. Reflecting on the lessons of the tragic earthquake disaster after Tangshan earthquake, Chinese government and academia have been studied and practiced urban resistance to earthquake disaster more than 40 years, and the technology and methods of urban seismic disaster prevention with Chinese characteristics have been formed. This article briefly summarized the effect of earthquake on cities, development history of the research and practice about Chinese urban earthquake disaster. Three aspects that are anti-earthquake and disaster prevention plan, earthquake disaster prevention and mitigation plan, and resilient cities which were carried out successfully in China were systematically summarized problems in this research field were reviewed and discussed. The definition, research contents, characteristics, evaluation index and methods of resilient city were explained in detail. On the basis of this, five problems and research orientations in the future that should be put forward. The work of this paper is of great significance to the scientific and technical workers who engage in urban anti-seismic research.