Abstract: With frequent occurrence of public health emergencies, China constantly sums up experiences and lessons of public health emergency management (PHEM), and gradually builds up its own PHEM system from scratch. However, in early 2020, the actual emergency management of conronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak exposed a series of problems in this system. This study intends to analyze the contents and problems of existing PHEM system, summarize the developing process of the system, and provide references for further PHEM improvement in China.