OBJECTIVES: Growing rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are major health problems in China. Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for patients with clinically severe obesity additionally improving co-morbidities, while metabolic surgery is a procedure aimed at resolution of T2DM. The main objective of our study was to assess the efficacy of both procedures performed on Chinese population. METHODS: A comprehensive search was performed in PUBMED and websites of Chinese medical databases and journals including: www.wanfangdata.com, www.cqvip.com, www.cnki.net, www.docin.com, wenku.baidu.com. Studies met the inclusion criteria if they enrolled obese Chinese patients with or without T2DM undergoing following laparoscopic procedures: sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, adjustable gastric banding, single-incision sleeve gastrectomy. RESULTS: Our search retrieved 17 studies (2339 patients) of which 7 included T2DM patients (N = 374) exclusively. Overall, mean BMI reduction one year following surgery ranged from 5.7 to 16.8 kg/m2. Excessive weight loss ranged between 25.4‑81.25% and 18.4‑72.2%, after 1st and 2nd year of follow-up, respectively. Moreover, 2 years following surgery hypertension resolved in 9‑98% of patients, hyperlipidemia in 42‑100%, arthralgia in 90% and sleep apnea in 68‑100%. In the subset of diabetes patients resolution of T2DM was observed in 33%‑93% individuals 1 year post-surgery. In the same time mean HbA1c was improved by 1.2‑4.4 percentage points, FBG was reduced by 37.8‑107.2 mg/dl and BMI declined by 5.7‑7.1 kg/m2. Bariatric procedures led to complication rates ranging from 0 to 23.5% during the first postoperative year and from 5 to 57% during the second year. Reported mortality was low and did not exceed 0.47%. Additionally, surgery had beneficial effect on patients’ quality of life, which improved especially in physical, emotional and social domains. CONCLUSIONS: Bariatric surgery is effective in achieving durable weight loss and as well as improvement or resolution of T2DM and other co-morbidities.