Designing of exercise plays a key role in textbook compilation and language teaching. Taking a broad view of some Chinese language textbooks and some studies from research circles, we find that designation and study of exercise is more and more becoming a bottle-neck problem and a weak point The aims of this article are to explore contemporary exercise designing of Chinese language textbooks and exercise researching multi-dimensionally, and to point out issues and look for counter-measures. The issues include: studies of exercise were short of emphasis on micro-details like exercise content, etc, and designations of exercise lacked contextual support and practicality. The measures include: reforming traditional exercise, saliencing communication and task, developing a pattern of exercise designing based on three principles of 'learner-centered', 'using language to do sth.', 'training different language skills through different ways'.