Started in 1966 after the Xingtai earthquake,the ground displacements induced by strong earthquakes has been documented by using trigonometrical survey and spirit leveling. The most intensive campaign was implemented for the 1976 catastrophic Tangshan earthquake. Due to the limitation with the conventional methods,only a few of earthquakes have been analyzed geodetically for a kinematic description of their sources in the following twenty years. Since the early 1990s,space geodesy has revolutionized the observation of seismic processes worldwide,and numerous M>6.0 earthquakes in China and adjacent area have been mapped geodetically over subsurface sources for constrain the rupture models. The most successful cases that have sparked a spur of interesting in great ruptures and continental deformation include earthquakes(M_S>8.0)of 2001 Kokoxili,2008 Wenchuan and 2015 Gorkha,each of which above has been documented in details about near-field coseismic displacements and well-resolved fault geometries and motions that shed much insights into seismotectonics and physical earthquake. The three-decade-long endeavor of earthquake geodesy in China has yielded the well constrained source models of about 60 major earthquakes in mainland China and Taiwan,from which the study on continental seismicity and seismic risk assessment would be benefit. The gained experience,established monitoring infrastructure and unfulfilled task provide historic references,development platforms as well as orientations to guide continuing geodetic missions.