Oceanic Mesoscale Eddies (ME) carry more than 90% of the kinetic energy in the upper global ocean, playing vital roles in the material and energy transport. They are highly active in the South China Sea (SCS), with complex dynamics for their generation and dissipation, which are received an increasingly attention from physical oceanographers. Through comprehensive analysis of extensively relevant literatures, it is found that the understanding of the three-dimensional structural characteristics of ME in the SCS more clear, the mechanisms of generation mainly include local wind stress, intrusion of the Kuroshio from the Luzon Strait, the westward propagation of Rossby wave in the Pacific Ocean, and a combination of multiple factors. ME’s dissipation is mainly caused by instability during their propagation or interaction with internal waves. It is shown that there is the ability to reconstruct and predict ME for those popular numerical models, data assimilation, and artificial intelligence technologies, but their accuracy still needs to be further improved. It aims to provide a systematic reference for the comprehensive understanding of ME dynamical processes and the improvement of their operational forecasting skills in the SCS. We suggest that combining dynamics theory, advanced ocean numerical models and data assimilation, big data and artificial intelligence to optimize ME simulation, is one of the key points for eddy research and forecasting in the future.