A portal crane operation monitoring system is disclosed. A portal crane comprises a fly jib and a driver room. The portal crane operation monitoring system comprises a camera shooting device mounted on the fly jib, a control unit mounted in the driver room and used for controlling the operation of the camera shooting device, an information acquisition unit used for acquiring state information of the portal crane, a PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) module used for gathering the state information, an IPC (Industrial Personal Computer) which is in communication connection with the PLC module and displays the processed state information, a remote data transmission and reception module which includes a wireless transmission device and a wireless reception device arranged at a place far away from the driver room, and a server for gathering and storing the received data signals. Due to the real-time video surveillance and state monitoring for the loading and unloading work of the portal crane, the portal crane operation monitoring system improves safety and loading as well as unloading efficiency of the loading and unloading operation of the portal crane. The portal crane operation monitoring system also can monitor the working process remotely through wireless communication.