Objective To evaluate antimicrobial resistance, virulence and genetic characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from aquatic products in China. Methods The susceptibility of 1 137 isolates of Vibrio parahaemolyticus from 26 provinces was determined, and virulence genes including tlh, tdh and trh were detected. The genetic characteristics of Vibrio parahaemolyticus were analyzed by pulsed field gel electrophoresis method. Results Two hundred and fifty-four strains (22.3%) were susceptible to all the antibiotics tested and 883 strains (77.7%) presented resistance to single or multiple antibiotics. All strains were susceptible to gentamicin and levofloxacin. The highest resistance rates were ampicillin (53.7%,611/1 137), amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (46.3%,526/1 137) and cefazolin (24.2%,275/1 137). All the 1 137 isolates were positive for tlh gene, including 3 isolates were positive for tdh gene and 19 isolates were positive for trh gene. Twenty strains with virulence genes were resistance to mainly penicillins and cephalosporin and 4 strains of them were snsceptible to all the antibiotics tested. There was no certain relation between the source and drug-resistant spectrum in these strains with virulence genes, and they displayed different genetic characteristics. Conclusion Vibrio parahaemolyticus isolated from aquatic products were resistant to penicillins widely in China, but the rate of virulence genes of strains isolated from food was lower than clinical. The genetic characteristics of virulent strains were varied.