This article surveys recent developments in the rational synthesis of single-crystalline zinc oxide nanowires and their unique optical properties. The growth of ZnO nanowires was carried out in a simple chemical vapor transport and condensation (CVM system. Based on our fundamental understanding of the vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) nanowire growth mechanism, different levels of growth controls (including positional, orientational, diameter, and density control) have been achieved. Power-dependent emission has been examined and lasing action was observed in these ZnO nanowires when the excitation intensity exceeds a threshold (similar to40 kW cm(-2)). These short-wavelength nanolasers operate at room temperature and the areal density of these nanolasers on substrate readily reaches 1 X 10(10) cm(-2). The observation of lasing, fabricated mirrors indicates these single-crystalline, well-facetted nanoaction in these nanowire arrays without any wires can function as self-contained optical resonance cavities. This argument is further supported by our recent near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) studies on single nanowires.