Mounting evidence suggests that hypertension is strongly linked to a variety of lipoprotein metabolism abnormalities. Apolipoprotein E gene (ApoE) is one such candidate with its common epsilon 2/epsilon 3/epsilon 4 polymorphism ranking high in hypertension association. To derive more specific information, we pinpoint our research scope in Chinese to test whether this polymorphism is associated with hypertension via a meta-analysis. Random-effects model was performed irrespective of the between study heterogeneity. Data and study quality were assessed in duplicate. Publication bias was evaluated using the fail-safe number. Overall, 12 studies with 14 study groups totalling 1532 hypertensive patients and 2172 controls were identified. Carriers of ApoE epsilon 2 allele had no significant increased risk for hypertension (pooled odds ratio (OR) 1.04; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.80-1.35; P=0.78), compared with those carrying epsilon 3 allele, whereas those with e4 allele had a significant increased risk for hypertension (pooled OR 2.03; 95% CI: 1.61-2.55; P<0.00001). After excluding those with other small nationalities, we observed comparison of ApoE epsilon 2 with epsilon 3 allele yielded a pooled OR of 0.99 (95% CI: 0.82-1.19; P=0.89) among Han Chinese, and that of epsilon 4 with epsilon 3 yielded a pooled OR of 1.99 (95% CI: 1.48-2.67; P<0.00001). The fail-safe number at the level of 0.05 supported these significant associations. Taken together, our results expand previous findings and show that ApoE epsilon 4 allele is associated with a twofold increased risk of developing hypertension in Chinese. Journal of Human Hypertension (2011) 25, 725-731; doi:10.1038/jhh.2010.116; published online 13 January 2011