The invention discloses a method for recognizing typical defect local discharge signals of a power cable. The method includes the steps that local discharge data of a known type is acquired, characteristic parameters are extracted as input parameters, a discharge type label is set for each discharge type characteristic, and the discharge type labels are stored in an information library recognizedby the local discharge types; a neutral network model for recognizing the discharge types is built, the weight and the threshold value of the neutral network model are corrected through a bee colony algorithm, optimum model parameters of the input weight, the hidden layer threshold value and the output weight are acquired, and the optimum model parameters are saved; the local discharge signals ofthe to-be-recognized power cable are acquired based on the optimum model parameters, discharge pulse characteristic parameters are extracted, the to-be-recognized discharge characteristic parameters are input in the built neutral network model, recognition is carried out, and the discharge types are obtained. By means of the artificial bee colony algorithm, the weight and the threshold value of anextreme learning machine are optimized, the output weight is calculated through the obtained optimum weight and the obtained optimum threshold value, and the generalization capacity and the recognition precision of the extreme learning machine are improved.