Facing the development trend of high-speed helicopters， this paper summarizes and reviews the development history of high-speed rotor aircraft. The performance analysis of high-speed rotorcraft is conducted compared with the traditional transport vehicles， such as helicopter， aviation aircraft， highway， and railway. Based on the potential civil market demand， the advantages and disadvantages of high-speed rotor vehicle in transportation system and emergency rescue system are discussed. It is clarified that civil high-speed rotorcraft has a clear strategic development position in China. On the one hand， it can be used as an important node in the whole traffic system and be integrated into the transportation application system with outstanding task performance. On the other hand， it can meet the requirements of agile response speed of rescue system for a medium- and long-range distance， which will fill the gaps in the existing helicopter application field. Finally， the key technologies of China’s future civil high-speed rotorcraft are prospected according to the key development configurations.