Abstract: Shale gas reservoir is essentially a special type of natural gas reservoir made up of shale when free gas and adsorbed gas are in the state of dynamic equilibrium. The free gas in fracture?cavity and pores of shale beds is easily lost in the case of poor storage conditions, and the adsorbed gas can change into free gas and be lost too, which depends on the dynamic equilibrium of these gases. Many years’practices for shale gas exploration prove that thick dark shale may not form shale gas reservoir. A shale gas reservoir requires three reservoirforming elements: gas source rock, gas reservoir and cover. The organic combination of the three elements forms the“three?elements”model for shale gas accumulation. The shale gas exploration in China is still in an early stage. There are many problems to be solved. With the advances in science and technology as well as continuous probes, the shale gas exploration and development in China is believed to make greater achievements in the future