Using the data from Chinese industrial enterprise database during 1998-2008, this paper adopts non-parameter Kaplan-Meier method and discrete duration model to empirically investigate the export duration in Chinese firms and its influencing factors. The result shows the median duration of Chinese exporters is only 4 years and export hazard rate has a significant negative duration dependence with the first year export hazard rate being as high as 25% which drops significantly after 4 years of business. Heterogeneity of firms, such as productivity, scale, market share, financial condition, export intensity and so on, have significant impact on firm’s export hazard rate. The ownership structure also brings about huge differences in survival rate, with that of domestic-owned firms being much lower than that of foreign-owned firms.