The video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was first introduced to thoracic surgeons of China in 1990s. In the past 20 years, the VATS technique has been extensively applied in treatment of lung cancer all over the land. By the end of 2014, more than 300 thousands thoracic surgeries per year are operated that nearly half of these are finished by VATS. As China has been one of the most important forces to fight against lung cancer in the world, it is essential and inevitable to understand the status and future of China’s VATS in the treatment of lung cancer during this historic period.