Abstract: This paper mainly addresses the progress of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in China, analyses the obstacles which come from exterior and interior of SEA in the progress of developing SEA in China. In exterior of SEA, there is only legislation for plan in China, and SEA looks as some deficiency in statute and policy, but SEA is a strategic system which has many levels, accordingly SEA's developing is blocked in high levels and low levels. The obstacles of SEA's implementation failure include strategies' becoming apparent, spread, lack and substitute. The faultiness of political system is one of the reasons why SEA's implementation is failure. In interior of SEA, the faultiness of means system prevents SEA from developing in high levels, the index system looks as faultiness at present, especially lack integrated index system which reflects environment, society and economy's mutual influence because of complexity, universality and multilayer of objects of SEA research. The obstacles which come from public participation are divided into obstacles of uncertainty of public participation and obstacles of stuff of public participaters. It's a basic situation that the population of China is large, environment education started late, public environment stuff is not high at large. The enthusiasm of public participation is not high, which increases difficulty to develop procedure of public participation during implementation of SEA in China. At last the paper puts forward some basic countermeasures to overcome the obstacles. These basic countermeasures are establishing law system of supporting SEA, developing work of SEA training, increasing participaters and decision-makers' stuff, strengthening propagandizing SEA's production and increasing influence of SEA, perfecting methodology system and evaluation index system of SEA, strengthening intercommunion and cooperation. Although the research and development of SEA is starting in China, most researchers and decision-makers commonly identify with SEA because of its importance of implementation.