As an industry and a discipline,geotechnical investigation in China differs from that in the USA and European countries in its course of emergence and evolution. For over half a century,Chinese geotechnical investigation professionals witnessed continuous technical advances as they undertook independently almost all of China’s large-scale construction projects. Based on projects that won the “National Outstanding Engineering Investigation” Gold Medal Awards since the year 2000,this paper discusses the achievements of geotechnical investigation in the context of comprehensive technical ability,project evaluation and analysis,hi-tech applications and engineering monitoring,and analyzes several factors that have hindered the industry’s further development and alignment with international practice. Finally,some suggestions are given for future improvement. As an industry and a discipline, geotechnical investigation in China differs from that in emergence and evolution. For over half a century, Chinese geotechnical investigation professionals witnessed continuous technical technical advances as they undertook independently almost all of China’s large-scale construction projects. Based on projects that won the “National Outstanding Engineering Investigation ” Gold Medal Awards since the year 2000, this paper discusses the achievements of geotechnical investigation in the context of comprehensive technical ability, project evaluation and analysis, hi -tech applications and engineering monitoring, and analyzes several factors that have hindered the industry’s further development and alignment with international practice. Finally. Some suggestions are future for improvement.