Abstract: Based on the water conservancy statistics, the application distribution of water-saving irrigation in China in the past 10 years was analyzed and its obvious regional characteristics was found. Sprinkler irrigation is mainly used in the northeast, micro irrigation is mainly used in the northwest, low-pressure pipe irrigation is mainly used in North China, and canal irrigation are mainly used in East China. Water-saving irrigation still has 50% development space, and the proportion of sprinkler irrigation technology is still low compared with European and American countries. The development history, research progress and development trend of sprinkler irrigation in China were reviewed. The development opportunities of sprinkler irrigation machines in China under the challenge of resource and environment constraints was analyzed from the four aspects of national policy guidance, intelligent agriculture development, agricultural planting structure change and saline-alkali land transformation. The advantages and irreplaceable role of sprinkler irrigation are clarified. In addition, with the steady progress of high standard farmland construction and large-scale agricultural management in China, the perfor-mance and function of sprinkler irrigation machines are continuously enhanced, which gradually turns the limitations of previous sprinkler irrigation into development advantages. Finally, the future development prospects of sprinkler irrigation machines in China are prospected from the aspects of the shortcomings of the whole process mechanization of agriculture, the new mode of integrated operation of water, fertilizer and medicine, and unmanned intelligence.