Through combing and analyzing the relevant literatures in the past 40 years, this paper studies the relationship between the changes of Chinese business management environment, business reform and performance management and the evolution process of the relationship. Based on the difference between the internal and external environment of the enterprises, the management environment is roughly divided into four stages. In the framework of the four stages, the development of performance management theory and practice is expounded respectively. It is found that the philosophy and methods of performance management are different in different historical periods. In the early stage of the reform and opening up, it was mainly management by objectives(MBO). In 1990s, the balanced scorecard directed enterprises to pay attention to financial and non-financial comprehensive performance. At the beginning of the 21st century, key performance indicators （KPI）and 360-degree feedback started to prevail. With the advent of the mobile internet era, OKR and Chinese-style performance management are highlighted as of significance. Based on the historical review and analysis, the future performance management research in the context of management in China shows its development trend in eight aspects.Performance management is a “revolution.” The traditional view on performance appraisal, which evaluates only the employees instead of the superiors, should be renewed. The concept of “performance” needs to be updated. The objectives of performance appraisal should be re-examined. Performance management should become a daily work. Static performance indicators should be changed to those of dynamic. Vertical and horizontal development needs to be integrated in performance management. The strategy implementation function should be correlated with the human resources development and incentive function.