Chinese arthroplasty has made great progresses since the 1970’s, treating almost all the diarthrosis from hip to knee, shoulder, elbow, ankle and interphalangeal joints. Hip and knee, among them, are the most representative ones.
      CURRENT STATUS OF CHINESE ARTHROPLASTY
      Epidermiology
      According to the result of the national survey of 1275 of 1383 hospitals (92.3%) conducted in 31 provinces in 2005, the numbers of total joint arthroplasty (TJA) procedures was increasing at 14%–20% per year and numbered34 395 cases in 2005. Based on the personal estimation of the author, there have been approximately 280 000 total hip/knee arthroplasty (THA/TKA) cases as of 2012, including 200 000 THA cases and 80 000 TKA cases. In the USA, however, over 600 000 TKA had been performed in just one year (2008).1 We strongly believe that there will be an explosive increase of TJA cases in China in the coming years with the improvement of economic level, medical insurance policy, surgical techniques in arthroplasty and the predicted increased life span (Table 1).

        Primary hip/knee replacement
      The major primary causes of undertaking THA in China are quite different from those in western countries. The First Affiliated Hospital of SunYat-sen University2 reported 1037 THA patients from 1973 to 2009; the diagnosis included femoral neck necrosis with secondary osteoarthritis (31%), femoral neck fracture (28.4%), developmental dysplasia of hip with secondary osteoarthritis (19.7%), primary osteoarthritis (12.4%), ankylosing spondylitis (3.9%), and rheumatoid arthritis (1.7%). In western countries, however, osteoarthritis is the most common reason for undertaking THA. Due to the economic conditions in China, patients undertaking primary TKA in our country often present with more severe, complicated, and deformed knees compared with those in western countries. After continuous hard work for over ten years, Chinese arthroplasty technique has reached advanced levels in treating late-stage knee disorders such as severe flexion contracture and severe valgus deformity.