With the increasing rise of new energy, more and more distributed generation (DG) and energy storage devices are integrated into distribution network, which promotes the development of emerging DC systems and poses challenges to the protection schemes of traditional AC distribution systems. The key to safe and stable operation of flexible DC distribution systems lies in how to correctly identify and quickly isolate faults. Aiming at several typical topological structures of flexible DC distribution systems, the identification and protection method for common faults are summarized and analyzed. And then, the prospects for future development of fault protection in flexible DC distribution systems are proposed.