Developing indicator system of sustainability for land resources is one of the superiority fields of study of science and technology put forward in Agenda 21st for each country.The Ministry of Land and Resources has started to deal with this project.The paper probes into the theory and methodology for developing the indicator system of sustainable land use in China.It firstly reviews the domestic and overseas evolvement in the study on sustainable land use,then analyzes and summarizes the current conditions and experience about indicator system for sustainable land use in foreign countries.It points out that three aspects must be taken into consideration to researches of the indicator system for sustainable land use.They are:1)to divide land use regions and establish territorial indicator system for sustainable land use;2)to classify main land use systems and set up their indicators and threshold for sustainable land use;3)to select indicator system and threshold of sustainable land use in typical areas for case study.Only to integrate the three aspects organically can the scientific meaning,systemalization and practicability be assured.