The history and recent development of solid state sintering theory of advanced ceramics are introduced systemically.The sintering models and theories of initial stage,intermediate stage and final stage are described summarily.Most of the early sintering models and theories presents only one of the three stages of sintering,and supposes only one diffusion mechanism dominating the sintering process.Most of them are lack of quantity description,and can not describe the whole sintering process.Further more,the present attention are only focused on the fundamental investigation,such as the transportation mechanism of mass,densification process,and the growth of grains and pores.So,it is essential to construct a sintering model which can describe the whole sintering process.More attention should be paid on the dynamics of sintering.Computer simulation of the sintering is the direction of further investigation on the sintering.