<p>Benefiting from high technical maturity and cost competitiveness, alkaline water electrolysis (ALK) has become the mainstream technology for large-scale global green hydrogen production. This paper systematically reviews water electrolysis technologies for hydrogen production in China. It compares the technical routes, market distributions, and competitive landscape of four mainstream electrolysis techniques, elaborates on the classification and structure of ALK electrolyzers, and focuses on key performance indicators, including cell voltage, Faradaic efficiency, specific energy consumption, energy efficiency, and hydrogen production rate. The effects of core material components (electrodes, diaphragms, and bipolar plates) and critical operating parameters (current density, operating temperature, electrolyte flow rate, system pressure, electrode-diaphragm gap, and cell voltage) on the performance of ALK electrolyzers are comprehensively analyzed. Two key bottlenecks restricting ALK industrial development are summarized: widespread product homogenization leads to fierce price competition, and traditional steady-state designs fail to adapt to fluctuating renewable energy. Finally, prospective development directions are proposed from the aspects of material optimization, structural innovation, system control, and economic viability.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>