In this paper,we studied the statistical characteristics of 58 global great shallow-focus earthquake sequences with M_W ≥ 7.8 since 1976. Results showed:① There are 45 interplate events and 13 intraplate shocks among the 58 great earthquakes. The magnitude of intraplate earthquakes is lower than that of interplate ones. ② 74.1% of the interplate earthquakes are thrusting ones,and 61.5% of intraplate earthquakes are strike slips. ③ Among the 58 large earthquake sequences,82.8% are of the mainshock-aftershock type and 17.2% are of the multiple mainshock type. Different from the M ≥ 5.0 earthquake sequences,there is no isolated earthquake type in great earthquake sequences and their aftershock activity levels are high. The proportion of multiple mainshock type in intraplate earthquakes and interplater earthquakes is 7.7% and 20%respectively. ④ For the mainshock-aftershock sequences,events with magnitude difference △M between the main shock and the largest aftershock ranging from 1.0 to 2.0,consist of 75% of the total. The △M value of the strike-slip sequence is obviously larger than that of the thrust type. 68% of the largest aftershocks occurred during 3 days after the main shock,and secondly occurred about 10 days and about 1 month. The 49%epicentral distances D_max-aft of the mainshock and the largest aftershock are not exceed one-third of the aftershock zone scale,and 31% is from one-third to one-half of the aftershock zone scale. The differences of △t (the occurring time interval of the mainshock and the largest aftershock)and D_max-aft are not obvious for different modes of mainshock fracture. ⑤ Parameters of 46 earthquake sequences were calculated by ETAS(Epidemic Type Aftershock Sequence)model. The data of b-value,p-value and a-value are of beta distribution. The average b-value is 1.164±0.211,the average p-value is 1.559±0.412 and the average a-value is 1.673±0.911. It is seen that p-value and a-value are dispersed. The differences of b-value are not obvious for different types of earthquake sequences,for different modes of mainshock fracture,for intraplate and interpolate earthquakes. The p-value of the sequence with the main shock as a thrust is greater than that of the strike-slip and normal faults. The a-value of the interplate earthquake sequences is smaller than that of the intraplate ones. This indicates that the interplate earthquake has a high ability to generate higher order aftershocks. The a-value of the sequence with thrusting fracture mainshock is smaller than that of the strike-slip and normal fracture. This means although thrust rupture can cause faster decay of sequences,the ability to generate higher order aftershocks is relatively strong. ⑥ The fitting relation between the scale of aftershock area L and the magnitude of mainshock M_W for thrust earthquakes is lgL=(-1.399±0.306)+(0.470±0.037)M_W.