This paper compared the history, characteristics and models of commercial breeding industries between China and the United States. Using Sichuan Province as an example, this paper also discussed the governmental administrating behaviors and strategies of commercial breeding in China. The breeding history of the United States could be classified into 4 stages, including non-commercial breeding led by the Government, partial commercial breeding led by the Government, commercial breeding led by private companies, and monopoly commercial breeding worldwide. In contrast, China’s breeding history could be classified into 3 stages, including non-commercial breeding led by the Government, non-commercial breeding led by the Government with emergence of commercial breeding, and coexistence of commercial and non-commercial breeding led by the Government. In the current stage of breeding, most of China’s seed companies were not qualified to become the leaders of commercial breeding, and the overall progress of China’s breeding was lagged behind the United States by 25 to 35 years. Analysis results show that the characteristics of commercial breeding can be identified as international competition, high investment, technology-driven, market-oriented and specific division in breeding pipelines. There are three commonly adopted models of commercial breeding including 1) breeding by private companies, 2) purchasing varieties by private companies, and 3) cooperative breeding by companies and government-affiliated institutions. Model 1 was the mainstream in the United States, while model 2 and model 3 were prevalent in China. In Sichuan province, commercial breeding industry shows the following characteristics variety-guiding, market-orientation, expert-supporting and company-leading, and Sichuan experience can be a model for other regions to commercialize breeding in terms of variety adoption, government administration, and implementing path selection, and in terms of handling six pairs of relationships, including government and market, quality and quantity, fairness and efficiency, competition and cooperation, dispersion and concentration, and self-discipline and heteronomy. This research also found that the transitional period from exclusive to cooperative breeding and from non-commercial to commercial breeding might coexist for a very long time in China. Therefore, the Government should and ought to take actions to perfect relevant laws and regulations, to build a better supervision system of seed market, to stimulate breeders’ enthusiasm of innovation, and to steadily promote the pace of commercial breeding in accordance with market rules and the reform progress of China’s scientific research system.