Past several decades have witnessed a booming research field of cognitive neuroscience of pain, yet the majority of such studies include young adult participants only, largely ignoring the age differences. The field needs to fill the gap and provide more comprehensive understanding on how pain is processed in the brain of the young and the elderly, and how pain can be successfully managed for different age groups. Importantly, the developmental perspective gives the invaluable insight that psychological and physiological characteristics of different age groups influence the validity of pain assessment and the efficacy of pain treatment, thus necessitating different pain measures and treatments for children, adolescents, adults, and the elderly. Future studies will exploit emerging innovative and advanced technologies, fully appreciate the multidimensional nature of pain, develop age-specific non-addictive pain treatment, and ensure transparency and openness in developmental pain research. Considering the current situation of the field in our country, we shall focus on four promising research projects in the future: (i) to develop reliable and valid objective pain measures; (ii) to establish a large-scale and comprehensive database on pain development; (iii) to untangle the role of age and psychological factors in the development and maintenance of chronic pain; (iv) to develop effective and safe pain management strategies for different age groups and promote clinical translation of basic research.