Geography is a science of managing the state and the world，and it has an ancient tradition in China. Africa，with its vast territory and abundant resources，is the fertile land of geography and is also crucial to the development of contemporary Africa. With its vast research scope，geography can provide comprehensive intellectual support for solving Africa’s development problems and contribute to the integration and systematization of African studies. China’s research in this field can be traced back to the Han Dynasty，but systematic research was gradually carried out after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The study of African geography in China has gradually shifted from the introduction of physical geography to the study of cultural geography. It has strengthened research on agriculture，mineral，oil and gas resources，urbanization and the tourism industry，and obtained a series of achievements. However，the study of African geography is also faced with some shortcomings，such as low attention，lack of Chinese characteristics and too much attention to practical problems. In the future，under the guidance of the principle of “African emotion，Chinese characteristic and global vision”，strengthening field research in Africa should be the breakthrough point of China’s African geography research，and also bring new opportunities for the vision expansion and discipline reform of China’s geography.