Background: Concerns on surgical treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have been increasing recent years. However, the significance of previous studies based on single center or regional experience in China was impaired by small sample size. Here we described a Chinese Multi-institutional Registry (CMIR) to address this disadvantage and proposed a further collaboration project. Methods: Information of patients diagnosed with stage I to III NSCLC who underwent radical resection between 2001 and 2008 in seven institutions from the People's Republic of China was collected using a blinded standardized data form. Survival outcomes were calculated by Kaplan-Meier curves and Life-table method. Results: A total of 5,853 patients who met the inclusion criteria were entered into the database. The average age was 58.9 +/- 10.7 years. Males (59.5%) and adenmocarcinoma (53.0%) represented the majority of all cases. Lobectomy (87.9%) was the major operation type in practice. The 5-year overall survival rates were 81.9% for stage IA, 71.6% for IB, 55.0% for IIA, 45.2% for IIB, 34.9% for IIIA and 23.3% for IIIB (P< 0.001). Conclusions: This is the first and the largest clinical database for resected NSCLC in China with optimal data quality. Future collaboration to expand and share this database nationwide is warranted.