This Reprint collects cutting-edge studies on shale reservoir characteristics and evolution mechanisms, with 30 original research articles addressing key issues restricting the sustainable development of unconventional shale oil and gas. Over the past two decades, horizontal drilling and hydraulic stimulation have greatly boosted production in North America, China and other regions, but the industry still faces low single-well productivity and rapid production decline. These bottlenecks come from unresolved problems in reservoir characterization, hydrocarbon occurrence, reservoir evolution dynamics, and efficient evaluation technologies. This Reprint systematically presents the latest theoretical and methodological advances in shale reservoir research, covering continental, marine, and marine-continental transitional shales in major petroliferous basins of China. The studies integrate mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, geophysics, and reservoir engineering to reveal how lithofacies, burial depth, and formation pressure control shale reservoir formation, evolution, reservoir space properties, hydrocarbon occurrence, and productivity. It provides reliable theoretical and technical support for high productivity, low development costs, and long-term sustainable development of shale oil and gas, serving as a useful reference for global researchers and engineers in unconventional oil and gas exploration and development.