Abstract: Zoning plan is a key part of the general management plan for national parks, and an important approach to comprehensively deal with resource protection, community management and visitor management of national parks. It is of great significance to improve the effectiveness of protection and management. This paper briefly sorts out the development context of zoning planning, summarizes the multi-disciplinary origin of zoning, and its application and development in national parks and protected areas home and abroad. Based on the analysis of the current national park zoning methods in the United States, Germany, Japan and the New Zealand, it points out that the zoning plan of national parks in the world has presented the characteristics and trends of comprehensive objectives, detailed policies, scientific and digital technology, and flexible decision-making system. Regarding the zoning plan of national parks in China, it proposes to formulate a technical path by setting a target system, conducting value analysis and determining the protection and utilization intensity. It also emphasizes the balance between the demands of streamlining administrative management and the trend of elaborate technical methods.