Abstract: It is beneficial to suppress the resonant oscillation and improve the operation stability of voltage source converter（VSC） based high voltage direct current（HVDC） systems by enhancing the damping characteristics. This paper presented a virtual parallel resistor damping control for such HVDC systems including DC grid. Firstly, the mathematical model of HVDC system was established based on the averaged-value model of converter. Secondly, the operating performance of HVDC system with parallel damping resistor was analyzed. The virtual parallel resistor damping control strategy was obtained by transforming the passive damping resistor into the control system. Thirdly, the influence of parameters of the virtual parallel resistor damping controller on the system performance was studied and the selection principle of damping controller parameters was derived according to the simplified two-terminal HVDC system. Finally, the electromagnetic simulation model of HVDC system was constructed to validate the effectiveness of the proposed damping control method.