Description: Background: Gastric cancer remains a major health issue and a leading cause of death worldwide. This study presented a long-term survival data of gastric cancer registered in Shanghai of China from 1972-2003, with aims to describe the trends as well as the age, sex, stage and tumor sites specific characteristics. Methods: The main source of information on cancer cases was the notification card sending to the registry. The residential status of cancer cases was confirmed by home-visits. The methods of follow-up have been a mixture of both active and passive ones. Results: We observed an increased trend of survival probability during the last decades. Patients diagnosed during 1972-1976 had a 5-years relative survival rate at 12% for males and 11% for females, respectively, which had dramatically increased to 30% for male and 32% for female patients respectively during the period of 2002-2003. Among the patients diagnosed in 2002-2003, the overall survival probability declined with patient's age at the time of diagnosis. The lowest survival rate was observed among the oldest group, with the median survival time of 0.8 years. Patients diagnosed with stage I had a higher relative survival rate. Patients with cardia cancer had the worst prognosis, with the 5-year relative survival rate of 29%. Conclusions: The survival probability of patients with gastric cancer in Shanghai has improved significantly during the last decades. Age, stage and site of tumor have an impact on prognosis.