Correlation between TCM typing of chronic gastritis and the findings about the mucosa in gastroscopic examination was analyzed. In GLM and DUNCAN analyses

the sufferers of insufficiency of both the spleen and stomach were much older than of the damp - heat in the spleen and the stomach （P< 0. 05）

while the latter were much younger than blood stasis in stomach - collaterals （P<0. 05）. Chronic gastritis caused by Helicobacter pylori was irrelevant with its types in TCM. Correspondence and scatter diagram analyses showed that chronic superficial gastritis was in correspondence with the types of damp - heat in the spleen and the stomach and that of incoordination between the liver and the spleen

while atrophic gastritis with proliferation and intestinal metaplasia were in correspondence with the types of insufficiency of both the spleen and stomach

blood stasis in stomach - collaterals and insufficiency of stomach yin. Findings in gastroscopy support the nature of chronic gastritis in TCM that the initial stage is often manifested in excess or heat syndromes. Lingering of the disease is bound to be of deficiency or invasion of heat into the collaterals

or impairment of yin.