Objective To systematically review the incidence, mortality and disease burden of colorectal cancer (CRC) in China. Methods The CNKI, WanFang Data, VIP, CBM, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases were searched to collect cohort studies about the incidence, mortality and disease burden of CRC in China from the establishment of the database to July 2024. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies. Then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 18.0 software. Results A total of fifty-six studies were included. The result of meta-analysis showed that the overall incidence of CRC in China was 31‰ (95%CI 29‰ to 33‰), and the incidence of male was 35‰ (95%CI 32‰ to 37‰). The female incidence was 27‰ (95%CI 25‰ to 29‰). The overall mortality of CRC in China was 20‰ (95%CI 17‰ to 22‰), of which the male mortality was 22‰ (95%CI 19‰ to 25‰), and the female mortality was 18‰ (95%CI 15‰ to 20‰). Conclusion The incidence and mortality rates of CRC in China are high, resulting in a significant disease burden that varies regionally. The incidence and mortality of males are significantly higher than those of females. Intervention measures should be taken to reduce the disease burden of CRC in China according to the related risk factors of CRC.