Abstract: he study of ecological carrying capacity is an important basis for the settlement of resource shortage and environment deterioration and the realization of regional sustainable development, and also, one of the hot spots in geography, ecology, and economics. After reviewing the related  research achievements, this paper elucidated the connotation of ecological carrying capacity, i.e., a representation of the supporting function and compressive stress of complex ecosystem, introduced the universal measuring methods of ecological carrying capacity, e.g., net primary productivity (NPP), ecological footprint (EF), balance of supply and demand, evaluation with comprehensive indices, and systematic modeling, and presented the research progress in the ecological carrying capacity of the regions being more concerned, including watersheds, ecological fragile areas, cities, agricultural areas, and tourism areas. The deficiencies in current studies, such as the shortage of complete scientific research system, the ambiguity of threshold value’s ecological meaning, the lack of time series study, and the absence of spatial pattern analysis, were summarized, and accordingly, the development trends in action mechanisms, model construction, and practical application were prospected.  

Key words: central Sichuan hilly area, soil physical and chemical property, analytic hierarchy process, land use type, grey correlation analysis.