Ultra-high temperature ceramics(UHTCs)are a family of borides,carbides and nitrides of transition elements such as hafnium,zirconium,tantalum and niobium.They exhibit the highest known melting points,good mechanical strength,good chemical and thermal stability under certain conditions.In last decade,researchers dedicated to characterize porous UHTCs aiming to develop novel thermal insulating materials that could withstand temperatures over 2 000 ℃.In this article,the preparation and characteristics of porous UHTCs were reviewed.Dry processing,colloidal processing and solution processing routes have been used to prepare porous UHTCs with porosities ranging from 5% to 97% and pore sizes ranging from hundreds of nanometers to hundreds of micrometers.The obtained porous UHTCs are chemically and dimensionally stable at temperatures up to 2 000 ℃ during static state high-temperature thermal aging.