Abstract Because of their special behaviour, physiology and close relationship with humans, mosquitoes act as one of the most important vectors of human diseases, such as filariasis, Japanese encephalitis, dengue and malaria. The major vector mosquitoes are members of the Culex, Aedes and Anopheles genera. Insecticides play important roles in agricultural production and public health, especially in a country with a huge human population, like China. Large quantities of four classes of insecticides, organochlorines, organophosphates, carbamates and pyrethroids, are applied annually to fields or indoors in China, directly or indirectly bringing heavy selection pressure on vector populations. The seven major species of vector mosquito in China are the Culex pipiens L. complex, C. tritaeniorhynchus Giles, Anopheles sinensis Wied., A. minimus Theobald, A. anthropophagus Xu & Feng, Aedes albopictus (Skuse) and Ae. aegypti L., and all have evolved resistance to all the above types of insecticide except the carbamates. The degree of resistance varies among mosquito species, insecticide classes and regions. This review summarizes the resistance status of these important vector mosquitoes, according to data reported since the 1990s, in order to improve resistance management and epidemic disease control, and to communicate this information from China to the wider community. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry