Development zones are an important "institutional arrangement" in China's reform and open process, playing a leading and exemplary role in institutional transformation, market mechanism cultivation, industrial structure upgrading and driving regional economic growth, but there are many problems such as policy generalization, waste of land resources and lack of innovation. It is an important research topic to sort out the development experience and shortcomings of China's development zones over the past 30 years, and to look into their future positioning. Based on a detailed discussion of the origins, driving mechanisms, development stages, functional evolution, and problems faced by China's development zones, this paper summarizes the successful experiences of China's development zones in four aspects:institutional arrangements, comparative advantages, industrial clustering, and business environment. In the future, the development of development zones should realize the transformation from production to life, from efficiency to equity, from prosperity of land to prosperity of people, from periphery to center, from specialization to diversification, from high growth to high quality development, and from openness to domestic and international double circulation.