A method for generating a thumbnail of an image, wherein the method comprises: filtering (301, 401) an image to obtain an edge intensity value for each pixel point in the image; calculating (302, 402) a spatial position attention value of each pixel point in the image by using the following attention model: P i j = exp − i − X c 2 − j − Y c 2 2 ∗ σ 2 wherein (i,j) represents any one pixel point in the image; P(i,j) represents the spatial position attention value of the pixel point; (X c,Y c) represents the center point of the image; and σ represents a preset coefficient calculating a distribution value of information amount of each pixel point in the image by using the following distribution model of information amount: I i j = E i j ∗ P i j wherein (i,j) represents any one pixel point in the image; I(i,j) represents the distribution value of information amount of the pixel point; E(i,j) represents the edge intensity value of the pixel point; and P(i,j) represents the spatial position attention value of the pixel point 404, 405) slidingly searching (304, 404, 405) on the image by a rectangular box of a size smaller than the image, and for the rectangular box in each slidingly searched position, calculating a distribution value of information amount in the rectangular box according to the edge intensity values of the pixel points therein, by summarizing the distribution values of information amount of all the pixel points in the rectangular box to obtain the distribution value of information amount in the rectangular box selecting (305, 406) the rectangular box with the largest distribution value of information amount, and intercepting content of an image corresponding to the selected rectangular box to obtain a thumbnail of the image. filtering (301, 401) an image to obtain an edge intensity value for each pixel point in the image; calculating (302, 402) a spatial position attention value of each pixel point in the image by using the following attention model: P i j = exp − i − X c 2 − j − Y c 2 2 ∗ σ 2 wherein (i,j) represents any one pixel point in the image; P(i,j) represents the spatial position attention value of the pixel point; (X c,Y c) represents the center point of the image; and σ represents a preset coefficient calculating a distribution value of information amount of each pixel point in the image by using the following distribution model of information amount: I i j = E i j ∗ P i j wherein (i,j) represents any one pixel point in the image; I(i,j) represents the distribution value of information amount of the pixel point; E(i,j) represents the edge intensity value of the pixel point; and P(i,j) represents the spatial position attention value of the pixel point 404, 405) slidingly searching (304, 404, 405) on the image by a rectangular box of a size smaller than the image, and for the rectangular box in each slidingly searched position, calculating a distribution value of information amount in the rectangular box according to the edge intensity values of the pixel points therein, by summarizing the distribution values of information amount of all the pixel points in the rectangular box to obtain the distribution value of information amount in the rectangular box selecting (305, 406) the rectangular box with the largest distribution value of information amount, and intercepting content of an image corresponding to the selected rectangular box to obtain a thumbnail of the image.