Since 1949, China has been witnessing a rapid development in ion exchange and adsorption technology. Up to date, at least five generations of polymeric resins have been developed, including gel-type resin, macroporous resin, hyper-cross-linked resin, bifunctional resin and resin-based composite adsorbent. These resin-based materials have been widely utilized in various industries, including military defense, medical and health, fine chemicals, hydrometallurgy, environmental protection, making considerable contributions to the modernization of China. In brief, gel-type resin, characterized by non-porous nature, was first developed for uranium extraction and later expanded to other fields such as water softening. Due to abundant porous structure, macroporous resin exhibited faster ion exchange rate and higher mechanical strength over the gel-type one. A variety of macroporous adsorption resins were developed and widely utilized in separation and/or purification in the industries of food, chemicals, rare elements, drugs, toxins, and environmental remediation. Hyper-cross-linked resin was mainly prepared via Friedel-Crafts reaction, possessing ultra-high specific surface area (usually high than 800 m(2)/g) and abundant microporous structure. Hyper-cross-linked resins have been successfully applied for hemoperfusion purpose, representing one of the most promising adsorbents for organic pollutants in chemical industry effluents. Bifunctional resins were designed for adsorptive removal of highly water-soluble organic pollutants from industrial effluents, because they could offer multiple interactions with target pollutants such as pp interaction, electrostatic attraction, hydrophobic interaction and hydrogen bonds. In the past decade, resin-based composite adsorbents, including resin-supported nanocomposite and magnetic resin, were obtained by integrating resin hosts with inorganic (nano) particles for advanced (waste) water treatment. The present review summarizes the development of ion exchange and adsorption resins in China since its foundation, particularly focusing on the historic contributions of Prof. Binglin He, the father of China's ion exchange resins, to the progress of ion exchange and adsorption technology in China. Also, it provides an outlook of the perspective of ion exchange and adsorption resins in emerging applications.
