Abstract: Abstract: “Trading Zone Theory” was introduced formally by Peter Galison in 1997.Because of its good explanation to cross boundary communication and cooperation, it attracted much attention of other researchers. In this paper, we review the process of rising and developing, in order to demonstrate the approach of the trading zone theory. Then we classify the application into three levels, cross disciplinary, cross organization, and cross country. In the last part, we figure out the whole picture of trading zone theory and its implications for investigating and managing cross boundary cooperation in China.