Frequent heavy rainfall (HR) can cause flood disasters in summer, which seriously affect the development of society and the economy in China. Based on a large number of studies on summer precipitation and synoptic characteristics of summer HR in China, the main advancements in summer HR research, from the climatological standpoint, are summarized. In particular, progress in studying certain aspects such as HR-related interannual and interdecadal variations and changing trends, the characteristics of associated large-scale circulations and their causes, and the evolutionary tendency under global warming, are reviewed. In addition, this paper also highlights some scientific problems relating to the climatology of summer HR over China that require further research.