Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a data channel sending method. In the method, a base station starts a clear channel assessment (CCA) on a data channel for a to-be-sent data channel. If the CCA on the data channel succeeds, the base station sends the data channel in a first subframe within a time window, where the data channel performs rate matching based on a reference signal (RS). The RS includes a first RS or a second RS. The first RS occupies continuous OFDM symbols in a subframe, and the second RS occupies discontinuous OFDM symbols in a subframe. The time window is a preset time window used to send the first RS, and the first RS is used by a user equipment (UE) to perform cell identification and/or a radio resource management (RRM) measurement on a cell served by the base station.