BACKGROUND To find out the clinical features and the regular patterns of lung cancer among Yunnan Tin miners and get ready for the further clinical practices. METHODS From 1975 to 1998 the clinical data in 2261 patients with primary lung cancer from Yunnan Tin Corporation were retrospectively analyzed. RESULTS The male patients were obviously more than female (male to female was 97.3:1). The ratio of age ranging from 50 to 69 years old was 74.3%. Of the whole group, 60.4% was squamous cell carcinoma and 71.4%was in stage III or IV. The 5-year survival rates of the three groups, which were respectively treated with surgical resection, non-surgical therapy and palliatively supporting therapy, were 43.4%, 7.5% and 1.2% respectively (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS There are some features in patients with lung cancer from Yunnan Tin Corporation. Early diagnosis for lung cancer and healthy quality education will be still important for our future work.