We compute the next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) QCD corrections to the hadronic decay rates of the pseudoscalar quarkonia, at the lowest order in velocity expansion. The validity of NRQCD factorization for inclusive quarkonium decay process, for the first time, is verified to relative order α 2 s . As a byproduct, the renormalization group equation (RGE) of the leading NRQCD 4-fermion operator O1( 1 S0) is also deduced to this perturbative order. By incorporating this new piece of correction together with available relativistic corrections, we find that there exists severe tension between the state-of-the-art NRQCD predictions and the measured ηc hadronic width, and in particular the branching fraction of ηc → γγ. NRQCD appears to be capable of accounting for η b hadronic decay to a satisfactory degree, and our most refined prediction is Br(η b → γγ) = (4.8 ± 0.7) × 10 −5 . Heavy quarkonium decay has historically played a preeminent role in establishing asymptotic freedom of QCD [1,2]. Due to the nonrelativistic nature of heavy quark inside a quarkonium, the decay rates are traditionally expressed as the squared bound-state wave function at the origin multiplying the short-distance quarkantiquark annihilation decay rates. With the advent of the modern effective-field-theory approach, the nonrelativistic QCD (NRQCD), this factorization picture has been put on a firmer ground, and one is allowed to systematically include the QCD radiative and relativistic corrections when tackling various quarkonium decay and production processes [3].