Abstract: More scientific and comprehensive risk management concept is in constant development simultaneously with the rising level of Chinese dam safety management. From two aspects, which are the progress in the study along with the laws and regulations, a comparative analysis of Chinese dam safety management and risk management is carried out, and several problems concerning current safety management method are pointed out including the difficulty in calculating the accident probability, lack of attention to the consequences of the accident, and the evaluation criteria and the management measures are not comprehensive enough. In order to promote the transformation of management mode and to improve dam management level in China, a few thoughts and suggestions are put forward. These suggestions include that quantitative analysis of accident probability and consequences in future research and practical operation should be more valued, and risk criteria should be built in time along with more comprehensive risk control measures.