China is undergoing tremendous urbanization and construction in both urban and rural areas. The problem lies in the lack of building environmental assessment methods for rural areas while most these methods are developed only for urban areas. This study reviews the current situation and issues relating to the rural development and construction of China and the theory of sustainable rural development. Several existing building environmental assessment methods in China and other countries are analyzed to identify the gap in their application in rural China. This study provides a series of suggestions for the development of sustainability assessment methods for rural building environments