Ecological planning is one of the most important tools in realizing city's sustainable development. The ecological planning in China was started in the 1980s, and on the basis of assimilating the existing theoretical and practical experiences from western countries, basically formed a theoretical system in accordance with the Chinese characteristics and acquired a series of practical results. This paper reviewed the research and development processes of China' s ecological planning. It is considered that the study of our ecological planning was derived from the geographical principles of land resources ecological utilization, the ecological principles of complex ecological system theory, and the combination of these two principles. The ecological planning has experienced three research stages, i. e., single-disciplinary exploration, multi-disciplinary and multi-perspective study (including landscape ecology, ecology and urban planning), and interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaboration research. The ecological planning and the related conceptions, primary principles, main academic points, and representatives at each research stage were summarized, and through the discrimination of the basic conceptions of ecological planning and other related plans, it was pointed out that ecological planning is an general conception which includes land ecological planning, urban ecological planning, and eco-city planning, and the principles and theories of ecological planning should be integrated into, led and restricted the present planning system to promote the city's and regional sustainable development.