With the establishment of translation variation theory，the related studies have seen rapid development and great achievements, and have become hot research issue．The empirical study on the review of the translation variation studies will contribute to the further development of translation theory．This paper collected journals of translation or foreign language studies via CNKI in the recent thirty years，trying to summarize the literature background，research methodology and application of the translation variation studies．It is found that the translation variation studies have changed from practical transition periodto theoretical demonstration period，and come into a period of applicationin various forms．Furthermore，it is believed that translation variation studies should be developed in three ways：The intervention of linguistics and philosophy，the verification of empirical and interdisciplinary methodology，and the extensionof translation variation application．