Gaps remain in physics and engineering for China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) design. This report will focus on the status and the challenges in high performance long pulse/steady-state (SS) operation and the power exhausting issues. The analysis shows that for the physics goal of CFETR, 200-MW-SS operation is available in the wide windows of $8 \leq I_{p}$ (plasma current, in MA) ≤10, $0.4 (normalized line-averaged density) $1.2 (H factor) <1.5 with different detailed combinations of the parameters. High density and high confinement scenario is favorite for this goal. CFETR may require at least 30% of divertor heat flux mitigation for the stationary case and probably additional reduction of a factor of 5–10 for the transient event, e.g., the edge localized modes. Another part of this report is to summarize the endeavors on experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) experiment, which might possibly address the solutions to the critical issues for future fusion reactors. Advances on EAST scenario development and divertor heat flux control are presented.