Over the years, genetically modified organism (GMO) development and regulation in China have regularly attracted international attention. In the early 1990s, China became the first country to commercialize a genetically modified (GM) crop with planting of a virus-resistant transgenic tobacco variety on a relatively large scale, while other parts of the world were debating about the risks of GMOs. A few years later, the GM tobacco was removed from cultivation because of strong pressure from outside of the country. This situation was not changed until late 1997, when an insect-resistant cotton variety was approved by the GMO Biosafety Committee in the Ministry of Agriculture for commercial cultivation in five provinces. This paper will give an overview of GMO development and biosafety research in China.