Objective: To investigate and analyze the refractive status of primary and secondary school students in Lanzhou City, and to understand the epidemiological characteristics of screening refractive errors among primary and secondary school students in Lanzhou City. Methods: Using the cross-sectional research method, primary and secondary school students from 47 schools in Lanzhou City, Gansu Province from April to December 2021 were selected as survey subjects by random stratified sampling method. Taking school as a unit, international standard visual acuity chart was used to check the eyesight and non-cycloplegia computerized autorefractor was used for refractive examination. Visual acuity ≥5.0 is considered normal; whereas visual acuity <4.8 is considered as poor vision. Poor vision is further divided into: short-sightedness with myopic spherical equivalent ≥0.75 DS; long-sightedness with telephoto spherical equivalent ≥+2.00 DS; astigmatism with cylinder mirror equivalent ≥1.00 DC; anisometropia with the difference of diopters between the two eyes (spherical equivalent) ≥1.00 DS. The percentage of the survey subjects with different refractive status in different grades were compared. Results: A total of 40 302 subjects were enrolled, including 21 328 males and 18 974 females. There were 37 938 Han and 2 364 ethnic minorities; 26 122 elementary, 9 346 middle and 4 834 high schools. The total detection rate of low visual acuity was 59.1% (23 832/40 302), and 48.8% (12 748/26 122) in primary school, junior middle school and senior high school, 76.9% (7 189/9 346) and 87.9% (4 250/4 834), respectively. The total detection rate of myopia was 63.3% (25 521/40 302), among which, the detection rate of screening myopia in primary school, middle school and high school was 51.4% (13 438/26 122), 84.4% (7 888/9 346) and 86.8% (4 195/4 834), respectively. The detection rates of screening low visual acuity, hyperopia, myopia, astigmatism and anisometropia were statistically significant in low, middle and high grades (all P<0.001). Conclusion: The detection rate of low vision and myopia among primary and secondary school students in Lanzhou is higher than the national average, and the detection rate increases gradually with the increase of grades.