Abstract: Developments in theories and techniques for blasting are important to blasting industriesand construction of civil infrastructures.The basic concept of blasting in rock mass is defined and examined based on the theoretical developments and engineering applications of blasting over the last few decades.The explosive features,rock mass characteristics and their interactions are discussed in details.It is found that a well understanding of the in-situ geological conditions is essential to successful blasting.The explosive energy feature has to be allocated according to the rock mass characteristics so that the interaction of explosive and rock mass can be optimized for effectiveness.In terms of rock mass and the associated blasting features,the in-situ rock mass can be classified into two categories:(a) pseudo homogeneous and continuous rock mass,(b) discontinuous rock mass.Both test and practice have shown that blasting results in the pseudo homogeneous rock mass are controlled by local topographic minimum resistant line and they are by rock mass discontinuities in the discontinuous rock mass.The theory of blasting control in engineering geology includes developed the two categories of rock mass and their corresponding blasting features.