[Background] The rice water weevil, Lissorhoptrus oryzophilus Kuschel, was first detected in Songming County of Yunnan Province in June 2007. In order to control its damaged, we characterised its occurrence, number of generations per year, population fluctuation of adults and larvae, and overwintering characteristics.[Method] We conducted regular field surveys in 2008-2010 in Bridge village, Songming County, Kunming City, Yunnan Province, China.[Result] When temperatures reached an average of 16℃ in early April (temperature range 9.0~24.1℃), the overwintering adults became active and migrated into rice paddies, settling and feeding on weeds and rice seedlings. In mid-May, the adults moved to rice fields and started egg laying on rice plants, and the larvae fed on new rice roots after the eggs hatched. At the tillering phase in mid-June, the larval population reached its peak, with 3.17~11.33 larvae per cluster. At rice booting stage in mid- to late July, cocoon density in the soil peaked, reaching 5.90~9.00 cocoons per cluster. At rice flowering and tesseling stage in late July to the middle of August, adults reached their peak density, after which the newly emerged adults gradually migrated to rice fields near sunny slopes and ridges to bury themselves to a maximum of 3 cm into the soil where they remained inactive during winter, we found a maximum of 98.33~266.00 overwintering adults per square meter.[Conclusion and significance] The rice water weevil produced 1~1.5 generations in Songming, closely synchronised with the growth stages of rice. The overwintering adults start to damage seedlings in the early April. July is the critical period for damage prevention and treatment against adults in Yunnan Province.