ObjectiveTo systematically review the intervention of Baduanjin (eight-section brocade) in patients with diabetes. MethodsLiterature search was conducted in such databases as PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library (Issue 8, 2013), CNKI, VIP and WanFang Data from the dates of establishment to August 2013. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on Baduanjin for patients with diabetes were included. Two reviewers independently screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted the data and assessed the quality of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.1 software. ResultsA total of 10 studies involving 825 patients were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that, the Baduanjin group was superior to the control group in lowering fasting plasma glucose, 2-hour postprandial plasma glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, and reducing the levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides, increasing the level of high-density lipoprotein, with statistically significant differences. However, There was no statistically difference in low-density lipoprotein between the two groups. ConclusionBaduanjin could lower the level of blood glucose, and it is also beneficial in blood lipids improvement for diabetes patients. Baduanjin is better than both conventional exercise and no exercise for diabetes patients. However, due to the limitation of quantity and quality of the included studies, this aforementioned conclusion should be further confirmed by conducting more large-scale highquality RCTs.