The Last Glacial Maximum ( LGM ) is one of the most suitable time periods for paleoclimate researchers and different methods have been used to obtain the characteristics of environmental variables in that period. While many features and arguments on LGM period are still in dispute, some basic agreements have been reached through the progress of last 20 years. In this paper, many physical elements which stand for the basic characteristics of climate in LGM period, including the topography, radiance, atmosphere CO 2 concentration, land-sea mask, sea surface temperature ( SST ) and ocean circulation, have been described systematically by compiling the results of LGM reconstruction with new proxies and model simulations in past 20 years to provide a front-row seat for the paleoceanography study in China. We found that the global SSTs in LGM period were cooling overall, but a few warming signals occurred at some particular regions ; deep ocean temperatures were relatively homogeneous; the glaciers had significant seasonal variation mainly in the Northern Hemisphere ; the strength of the Atlantic MeridionalOverturning Circulation ( AMOC ) and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current ( ACC ) was still in dispute. Definitely, the knowledge about LGM period should be broadened and deepened with the further increasing esearch. This review may provide a valuable reference to the following researches about data reconstruction and model simulation in China.