The endoscopy career of Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University began in the 1960s, and the first gastroscopy examination in China was conducted in Zhongshan Hospital with German semi-curved gastroscope. Compared with the international level, we are undoubtedly backward. In the early 1990s, the leaders of Zhongshan Hospital grasped the trend of development of minimally invasive treatment in international arena, and was no longer contented with endoscopy as a single examination tool, and proposed the integration of medical and surgical departments of the hospital. In 1992, the Endoscopy Centre was formally established as an independent department. Moreover, it was a team of surgeons, which is rare under the international circumstance. Surgeons are well versed in anatomy and also have extensive experience in dealing with complications such as perforation and bleeding, which provides a strong guarantee of endoscopic technique breakthroughs. It can be said that training surgeons to be endoscopists is extremely important for the expansion and innovation of endoscopic technology.

In this way, with the efforts of all parties, Endoscopy center of Zhongshan Hospital stumbled through its start along with many difficulties. At the beginning of the endoscopic technology development, complications were not easy to control, additional surgeries were common, and its unique treatment concepts and modalities were questioned by traditional surgical specialists. However, the hospital always gave trust to this young team. With the support of the hospital, the Endoscopy Centre accumulated a large number of cases and began to climb to the level of the most advanced technology in the world. In 2006, the leadership of Endoscopy Center sent Dr. Pinghong Zhou to Japan, the birthplace of ESD, to learn the newest endoscopic technique. However, we learned the technique, but could not bring back the equipment. Under the difficult conditions, several doctors made their own equipment with needles and hook knives, and carried out the first ESD procedure. Since then, Endoscopy Center of Zhongshan Hospital finally began to be on par with the world. After nearly 60 years of development, especially in the latest 30 years, the Endoscopy Center of Zhongshan Hospital has now become an important platform for clinical diagnosis and treatment, scientific research and training of specialists, which is renowned both at home and abroad. Relying on the discipline platform of endoscopy center, Shanghai Training Base of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy of the Ministry of Health, Endoscopy Diagnostic and Treatment Research Institute of Fudan University, Shanghai Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Diagnostic and Treatment Engineering and Technology Research Centre, International Training and Cooperation Centre of American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and Training Base of Endoscopy of Chinese Physicians' Association have been successively established.

On 29th July, 2024, Endoscopy Center officially moved to the new site-No. 160 Fenglin Road-making a new chapter. The department now has 65 doctors and nurses officially on staff, including 16 senior titles. There are more than 30 endoscopic treatment rooms, and the annual number of digestive endoscopy cases is more than 130,000, including more than 10,000 cases of endoscopic surgery. There are 2 endoscopic daily wards with a total of 92 beds, which is one of the largest endoscopy centers in Shanghai and even in the whole country.

The department routinely performs a wide range of endoscopic diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, including endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD), endoscopic submucosal excavation (ESE), endoscopic full-tickness resection (EFTR), per-oral endoscopic myotomy (POEM), submucosal tunneling endoscopic septum division (STESD), submucosal tunneling endoscopic resection (STER), endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), Endoscopic retrograde appendicitis therapy (ERAT), natural orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery (NOTES), endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (FNA), endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage, endoscopic esophagogastric fundal variceal ligation and sclerosing agent injection treatment, endoscopic GI early cancer ablation, endoscopic GI stenting, endoscopic biliary (pancreatic) duct lithotripsy and drainage, as well as all kinds of derived minimally invasive techniques.

The Endoscopy Center has organized and participated in a number of international and domestic clinical multi-center studies. In recent years, it has been awarded a number of national, provincial and ministerial research projects, including the National Key Research and Development Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Major Project of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, and the Public Welfare Special Fund of the Ministry of Health. The members of endoscopy center also awarded the "Ten Thousand People Plan" Young Top Talents Program, Shanghai Leading Talents, Shanghai Young Top Talents Program, Shanghai Municipal Education Commission's "Shuguang Program" and "Chenguang Program", Shanghai Science and Technology Commission's "Yangfan Program", Shanghai Municipal Health Commission's "New and Superior Youth Plan", and Shanghai Municipal "Rising Star" Young Medical Talent Plan, etc.

In recent years, Endoscopy Center has won the second prize of National Scientific and Technological Progress in 2019, the second prize of 2019 Endoscopy World Cup, the second prize of China Medical Science and Technology Award in 2018, the first prize of China Medical Science and Technology Award in 2017, the first prize of Ministry of Education Science and Technology Award in 2017, the first prize of Shanghai Medical Science and Technology Award in 2017, the first prize of Shanghai Science and Technology Award in 2016, and the first prize of Shanghai Quality Gold Medal in 2017. The department has published more than 60 papers in international and domestic authoritative journals annually, most of which are indexed by SCI, including Gastroenterology, GUT, American Journal of Gastroenterology, GIE, Endoscopy and other internationally renowned journals.