The successful practice for shale gas/oil exploration and development in North American marine shale areas show that, there are not only many similarities, but also some differences in formation conditions and existence states between shale oil and shale gas. The common characteristics of shale oil and shale gas are that shale oil and shale gas are all accumulated in slope or syncline areas of basin, in the form of “continuously reservoir”, and that commercial value shale oil and commercial value shale gas are all found in high organic materials content, high brittle mineral amount, and abnormal high fluid pressures shale strata. The main difference between shale gas and shale oil is that the shale gas has more origins and more generation stages than shale oil. The shale gas can generate from all type of kerogens, which inclues typeⅠ,type Ⅱand type Ⅲ, while the shale oil only generate form kerogens of typeⅠand type Ⅱ. The shale gas can form in all stages of organic material thermal evolution, while the shale oil can form only in “oil window” stage. Molecular diameter and structure differences between gas and oil also affect factors determining the existing state differences between shale gas and shale oil, and these differences require different exploitation methods to be taken for shale gas and for shale oil. It is convinced by exploration practice that there are great amount of shale gas and shale oil in continental basins of China. However, how to take or develop effective methods aiming at these resources is a critical problem for further shale gas/oil exploration and exploitation in China.