The earliest record of chest trauma surgery was B.C 3000 years. Before 15th century, chest trauma surgery only focused on simple wound treatment of the chest wall. At the beginning of 20th century, treatment of organ injury in the thoracic cavity appeared. In the 50's-80's of the 20th century, complete structure and knowledge of modern chest trauma surgery came into being. Since the 90's of the 20th century, development of new techniques such as minimally invasive surgery, new concepts such as fast-track surgery and damage control surgery, new materials, multidisciplinary cooperation, Internet technology, and translational medicine all have contributed to outcome improvement of patients with chest trauma, and will contribute to the development of chest trauma surgery in the future.