China has abundant shale oil resources, and major breakthroughs have been made in the Ordos, Junggar, Bohai Bay, Santanghu, Songliao, northern Jiangsu, Jianghan, Sichuan and Qaidam basins. Large differences exist in the non- marine shale oil zones in China compared with the marine shale oil in North America, with respect to reservoir types, lithologic facies assemblages, organic matter abundance, organic matter types, maturity, crude oil physical properties and gas- oil ratio, as well as the current effectiveness of exploration and development. Based on the systematic analysis of the basic theoretical research progress and exploration practice achievements of the non- marine shale oil in China, four key issues on the basic research of shale oil enrichment in China are discussed: ① sedimentary environment and genetic model of the organic- rich shale; ② experimental methods for multi- scale characterization of shale reservoir space and reservoir properties; ③ occurrence mechanism, phase state and movability evaluation; and ④ “sweet spot/zone” optimization and evaluation. Fundamental research and production practices should be combined to solve the problems, including the unclear mechanism of diagenesis- hydrocarbon generation- reservoir formation and enrichment in the shale system, and the difficulty of movability evaluation and optimization of “sweet spot”. It is necessary to clarify the key factors affecting the commercial production of the shale oil, and provide theoretical basis and technical support for accelerating the speed and reducing the cost of large scale non- marine shale oil exploration and development process in China.