Abstract:First of all,the paper gives a brief review for the birth and historical events of control theory.Secondly,the characteristic of this discipline is analyzed.It is pointed out that the control theory is a branch of applied mathematics,it depends heavily on mathematics;meanwhile,it is also a service-based discipline,which highly depends on the development of science and technology.Thirdly,it is shown that the major research directions of control theory have been changed from theoretically oriented topics to application-oriented topics.Some characteristics have been revealed and four hot topics are introduced as:(1) control of complex systems;(2) network control;(3) motion control;(4) process control.Finally,some prospects of future control are presented,which contain some further research topics,and possible new tendencies as(1) generalization of control theory;(2) more intelligence;(3) theoretical breakthrough.