The ocean is a multiscale forced-dissipative system where mechanical energy is input mainly at large scales and dissipated at small scales. Internal wave is the key process of energy cascade from large-scale and mesoscale motions to small-scale turbulence. The generation and dissipation of internal waves can break the dynamic equilibrium of oceanic flows and is an important pathway of ocean energy cascade. The evolution and dissipation of shoaling internal waves (especially internal solitary waves) on the continental shelf is a key mechanism driving offshore mixing. Recent decades of theoretical, observational and numerical studies revealed the critical evolution processes of the shoaling internal waves: wave deformation, polarity conversion, fission, breaking and dissipation. Compared with direct breaking, fission and its accompanying shear instability and convective instability are the main mechanisms of wave dissipation on the continental shelf and result in significant ocean mixing. From the viewpoint of energy cascade, fission of shoaling internal solitary waves into high-frequency waves is an important pathway of tidal energy cascade. Here we briefly review studies of internal waves on the northern continental shelf of the South China Sea, and highlight in particular recent advances in the study of the evolution and dissipation mechanisms of shoaling internal waves.