Abstract Gallstones are a common disease of the digestive system. In developed countries, the incidence of gallstones is 10%-15% among whites, and among American Indians, the incidence of gallstones can be as high as 60%-70%, while the incidence in eastern Asian populations is lower and sub-Saharan Africans rarely suffer from gallstones. In China, according to a survey conducted by the Chinese Biliary Group in 1995, the average incidence of cholelithiasis is 7%, and it can be as high as 23% at the age of 80 years. Since the 1980s, the proportion of cholesterol stones in the gallbladder has increased significantly in China, from 52.8% to 79.9%. Keywords: gallbladder stones; cholesterol stones; cholecystectomy; Chinese and Western medicine; biliary stone extraction; gallbladder mucosa; benign gallbladder disease; open cholecystectomy; survey data; stone formation.