Rare earths are the critical fundamental materials for the preparation of new high-tech materials, and have been honoured as ‘the strategic elements in the 21st century’. This paper mainly introduces the current situation and the future development trend on the preparation technologies of the new rare earth materials, including rare-earth permanent magnet material, rare-earth luminescent material, rare-earth catalytic material, rare-earth hydrogen storage material and high purity rare-earth material. Meanwhile, considering the current environmental issues which have been greatly concerned, this paper also briefly introduces the current development situation and the future trend on the green preparation of rare earths in China. Finally, this paper faces the key problems and challenges for the development of rare earth industry in China, and then gives several countermeasures and suggestions for the development of rare earth industry in China.