General program and main topics of 33rd International Geographical Congress are introduced in this article. Frontier issues of geography generalized from the congress are: "Future Earth" research, integrated research on land surface processes, land use change and ecosystem services, the impact of human activities on global change, human response and adaption to global change, urbanization and sustainable development, health and environment, formation mechanism and the comprehensive risk management of disaster, "big data, GIS ciences and decision-making", geography and culture diversity. The development of geography should pay more attention to comprehensive study of human-natural systems, coupling study of the natural system and social system, and development of fundamental theories. Chinese geography needs to focus on the frontier issues and development trends of international geography, and lead the world in the new development of geography.