Objective To evaluate the effect of total gastrectomy (TG) and proximal gastrectomy (PG) for the treatment of advanced esophagogastric junction cancer. Methods Clinical data of 273 cases of advanced esophagogastric junction cancer who underwent TG and PG in our hospital from Jan. 2004 to Dec. 2010 were reviewed for retrospective analysis. Operation related indexes, 3-year cumulative survival rate, and 5-year cumulative survival rate were compared and evaluated. Results There was no significant difference between TG group and PG group in intraoperative blood loss, operation time, and hospital stay(P > 0.05), but the number of dissected lymph nodes in TG group was obviously more than those of PG group, and the difference was statistically significant(P=0.000). The postoperative complication rates were 10.3%(12/117)in TG group and 21.8%(34/156) in PG group respectively, which was lower in TG group(χ2=6.353, P < 0.05). The 3-year and 5-year cumulative survival rates of TG group were 58.9% and 34.2%, of PG group were 43.4% and 23.6% respectively, and the 3-year and 5-year cumulative survival rates were all lower in PG group(χ2=5.894, P < 0.05;χ2=5.582, P < 0.05). For patients in stage pT4, pN2, and TNMⅢ, whose tumor size were bigger than 3.0 cm, and patients who had accept chemotherapy, the 3-and 5-year cumulative survival rates of TG group were significantly higher than those of PG group(P < 0.05). However, for patients in stage pT2, pT3, pN0, pN1, pN3, TNMⅠ, TNMⅡ, TNMⅣ, whose tumor size were smaller than 3.0 cm, who had not accept chemotherapy, and patients of any pathological type, there was no statistically significant difference between the 2 groups in 3-year and 5-year cumulative survival rates(P > 0.05). Conclusion For the patients who suffered from advanced esophagogastric junction cancer, TG can improve long-term survival rate, and it can significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative complications and improve postoperative quality of life.