In this paper, a fuzzy dynamic characteristic modeling and adaptive control method is proposed for a class of nonlinear systems. By employing fuzzy dynamic characteristic model, the controlled plant is described as a slowly time-varying fuzzy system, wherein the parameters are estimated online by using recursive Least-Squares algorithm. Under this framework, a fuzzy adaptive controller is constructed, and the stability condition of the closed-loop system is also derived. The main advantage of the proposed method lies in no requirement for the prior knowledge of system model and less parameters to tune, which allows engineers to operate it in a simple, straightforward manner. The proposed method is applied to the control of hypersonic vehicle, and simulation results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained results. In this paper, a fuzzy dynamic characteristic modeling and adaptive control method is proposed for a class of nonlinear systems. By employing fuzzy dynamic characteristic model, the controlled plant is described as a slowly time-varying fuzzy system, where the parameters are estimated online by using recursive Least-Squares algorithm. Under this framework, a fuzzy adaptive controller is constructed, and the stability condition of the closed-loop system is also derived. The main advantage of the proposed method lies in no requirement for the prior knowledge of the system model and less parameters to tune, which allows engineers to operate it in a simple, straightforward manner. The proposed method is applied to the control of hypersonic vehicle, and simulation results are to demonstrate the effectiveness of the obtained results.