Water resources are one of primary environmental factors influencing sustainable development. To study water resource vulnerability and the impact of climate change on water resource vulnerability is of great significance to the national economy sustainable development in China and has been one of the focal issues in the environmental research at present and even in the future. The conceptions, assessment index systems, research methods, and major progresses in the researches on water resource vulnerability and suitable countermeasures to decrease water resource vulnerability are systematically summarized. Some suggestions are given on the future research focuses in the area of water resource vulnerability, the existing index system perfecting, the improvement of the unity and comparability of vulnerability maps, and the application of high and new technology to water resource vulnerability research.