China’s rice science and production: Progress over the past decade and prospects for the future

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China has a long history of rice cultivation and a rich rice-farming culture. As the world’s largest producer and consumer of rice, continuously advancing rice research and production is vital to ensuring food security. In this review, we systematically summarize the progress in rice research and production over the past decade (2015–2025) and highlight emerging challenges in China. This review synthesizes national and regional characteristics of rice production, consumption, trade, along with advances in the conservation and utilization of rice germplasm resources, the molecular mechanisms of domestication and genomics. It provides an in-depth elaboration of the molecular and genetic basis governing rice agronomic traits, including yield components, grain quality, hybrid fertility, nutrient-use efficiency, and abiotic/biotic resistance. This is followed by a comprehensive overview of rice cultivar improvement adapted to the major ecological zones. This work further highlights the transformative shift in rice cultivation management from traditional labor-intensive farming to simplified, smart, and unmanned cultivation systems. Future directions for rice breeding are discussed, with a focus on the integration of molecular design, multi-omics, and artificial intelligence technologies to build high-efficiency breeding systems that are conducive to sustainable and resilient rice production in China.