Objective To study the clinical and pathological characteristics of early gastric cancer ( EGC) and to evaluate the value of blue laser imaging combined with magnification endoscopy ( BLI-ME) in the diagnosis of EGC. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on data of 255 patients with EGC diagnosed in Huashan Hospital from January 2014 to January 2017, including 33 cases of preoperative BLI-ME intensive examination. According to the Japanese classification of gastric carcinoma of Japanese Gastric Cancer Association, the EGCs were histopathologically divided into differentiated and undifferentiated subtypes. Clinical characteristics, endoscopic features, pathological type, lymph node metastasis, and lesion characteristics of BLI-ME were analyzed. Results Among the 255 cases of EGC, 164 cases ( 63. 31％) were male, 242 cases ( 94. 90％) were over 40 years old, 182 cases ( 71. 37％) belonged to differentiated type, 93 cases ( 36. 47％) were located in gastric antrum, 92 cases ( 36. 08％) were type 0-Ⅱc under endoscopy, and 37 cases (14. 51％) had lymph node metastasis. Comparative analysis showed that the lymph node metastasis rate was significantly lower in mucosal carcinoma compared to submucosal carcinoma[ 5. 04％(7/139) VS 25. 86％ (30/116),χ2=22. 109, P=0. 000], lower in differentiated carcinoma compared to undifferentiated carcinoma[9. 89％ (18/182) VS 26. 03％ (19/73), χ2=10. 938, P=0. 002], and lower in tumors with maximum diameter of lesion≤2. 0 cm compared to maximum diameter of lesion>2. 0 cm [ 9. 88％ ( 16/162 ) VS 22. 58％ ( 21/93 ) , χ2 =7. 687, P=0. 009 ] . Among the 33 cases undergoing BLI-ME, differentiated EGC was mainly fine-network pattern (13. 64％, 3/22), intralobular loop pattern (ILL)-1 (59. 09％, 13/22) and ILL-2 (22. 73％, 5/22), whereas undifferentiated subtype patients were characterized as ILL-2 ( 45. 45％, 5/11 ) and corkscrew pattern ( 54. 55％, 6/11 ) . Conclusion The incidence of EGC is higher in male with age over 40 years. Gastric lesions occur most frequently in the antrum, and the most common microscopic morphology is 0-Ⅱc type. Tumor>2. 0 cm or invasion of submucous layer, and undifferentiated carcinoma are prone to lymph node metastasis. The assessment of mucosal microvascular pattern and micro surface structure under BLI-ME facilitate to determine the pathological type of EGC.