There are more than 540 species of crayfish in the world. Crayfish are widely natively distributed in the world except Africa and Antarctica. Some species of crayfish are well-exploited for years and have high economic value, including Procambarus clarkii, Cherax quadricarintus, destructor, Astacus astacus and Astacus leptodactylus. The crayfish aquaculture mainly includes extensive, semi-intensive and intensive types of production. The demand of crayfish market is very large in China and several western countries. The profit of crayfish production is very high. Soft-shell crayfish is high valued and greatly demanded. There is considerable potential for the development of markets for soft-shell crayfish. The development of crayfish culture in China is analyzed and it has a bright prospect to develop the industry of crayfish culture especially soft- shell crayfish production in China.