The men's parallel bars competition at the 2008 Summer Olympics was held on August 9 and 19 at the Beijing National Indoor Stadium.

The eight competitors (with a maximum of two per nation) with the highest scores in qualifying proceeded to the men's parallel bars finals.

[1] The event was won by Li Xiaopeng of China, the first (and, as of the 2016 Games, only) man to win three medals in the parallel bars as well as the first (and, as of the 2016 Games, only) man to win two non-consecutive gold medals in the same apparatus.

Anton Fokin won Uzbekistan's first parallel bars medal in its debut as an independent nation.

Mitja Petkovšek of Slovenia had won the 2005 and 2007 world championships, sharing the latter with Kim Dae-Eun of South Korea; Yang Wei of China was victorious in 2006.

The United States made its 20th appearance, most of any nation; the Americans had missed only the inaugural 1896 event and the boycotted 1980 Games.