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Soil salinization and alkalization are important abiotic stresses that affect crop growth and yield. Development of salt and alkali tolerant varieties is still dominated by the following conventional breeding method: The salt and alkali tolerant traits from screened germplasm are introduced into elite varieties by means of hybridization and backcrossing. In recent years, the breeding of salt and alkali tolerant rice has also made great progress. For example, the yield of Chao‐You 1000, a two‐line rice hybrid, has reached 12.04 t/ha growing in fields with salinity between 0.2% and 0.6%. This review is an update on the progress of salt and alkali tolerant rice germplasm screening and new salt and alkali tolerant varieties in development. By reviewing the performance of current rice hybrids in China's National Regional Variety Trials of Saline‐Alkali Tolerant Rice, we proposed the technical approach of developing saline–alkali tolerant rice hybrids using the third‐generation hybrid rice technology and furthermore the trend of developing salt and alkali tolerant rice hybrids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]