The development of secretarial major in China has spanned over four decades. It has fairly strong applicational and occupational characteristics since its birth. From 1980 to 1999，higher education in secretarial education was closely integrated with adult education and vocational education，and also served as an educational supplement to the shortage of university resources under the increasing educational demands. With the university enrollment expansion in 1999，secretarial major has achieved significant breakthroughs，established an educational system encompassing associate, bachelor and graduate programs，while gradually formed secretarial science disciplinary framework under the disciplinizational requirements. However，after 2018，the number of secretarial major for undergraduate programs declined，the existing masteral and doctoral programs in prestigious institutions eliminated or merged，the research output sharply decreased. All of the cases have substantially impacted secretarial education and disciplinary development. This paper retrospection the history of secretarial major in Chinese higher education，examines the essence of secretarial major，analyzes the current state of secretarial education and research，and proposes recommendations for its future development.