Yunnan is the center of tea origination with abundant in tea germplasm resources enriching the genetic diversity, which plays in an important role in tea research. In this paper, the research achievements and progress of Yunnan tea germplasm resource in past sixty years are systematically reviewed from the following aspects: exploration, collecting, conservation, protection, identification, evaluation and shared utilization. Simultaneously, the current problems and the suggestions about subsequent development of tea germplasm resources in Yunnan were discussed, including superior and rare germplasm collection, tea genetic diversity research, biotechnology utilization in tea germplasm innovation, super gene exploration and function, the construction of utilization platform, biological base of species and population conservation.