Abstract: The development of worldwide rare isotope facilities is opening a fantastic scene for the nuclei of atoms. This not only deepens our understanding of the structure of matter, but also promotes the development of the theories for quantum many-body systems with strong correlations. It is interesting that a seemingly “macro” concept, shape, is very helpful for us to understand the structure and properties of fermi-scale quantum many-body systems. This paper introduces the symmetry and breaking mechanism of a quantum many-body system with strong interactions, illustrates various nuclear exotic shapes, and discusses the relevant physical pictures and the latest research progress.