To take effective measures for prevention and achieve the goal of reducing the incidence and mortality rate from breast cancer, the method of descriptive epidemiology was used to study the situation regarding female breast cancer in Tianjin. There is an increasing trend for the incidence rate (increasing 51% during the period from 1981 to 1997), though the absolute value is still low in comparison with the developed countries in the world. Furthermore, the mortality rate of breast cancer has been decreasing constantly (decreasing 38% during the same period), while the 5-year, 10-year and 15-year survival rate increased. This may be mostly attributable to work leading to early detection and early diagnosis of breast cancer.