The Paleoproterozoic Great Oxidation Event (GOE, approximately 2.43~2.06 Ga) is the first significant atmospheric oxygen increase and fundamentally changed the environment and habitability of the Earth. This study summarizes the research progress on the GOE and related carbon cycle perturbation events in the early and middle Paleoproterozoic, focusing on the time frame, initiation process, and mechanism of the GOE, extremely δ¹³C_carb-positive excursion event (Lomagundi-Jatuli event), and carbon cycle perturbation events after the GOE. The initiation of the GOE was intermittent, and research on the initiation mechanism presents diverse viewpoints. The atmosphere-ocean system experienced oxidation and deoxygenation processes during the Lomagundi-Jatuli event, in which the initiation mechanism may have been caused by the increase in ocean primary productivity during this period, but the influence of other mechanisms (such as the deep carbon cycle of the Earth) cannot be ruled out. After the Lomagundi-Jatuli event, global organic carbon burial increased significantly and lasted until approximately 1.7 Ga (Shunga event), during which there was a δ¹³C_carb-negative excursion event (Shunga-Francevillian event). The mechanism of the Shunga and Shunga-Francevillian events remains to be studied.