活体测量是人类学重要分支。本文从18世纪人体测量学的开始发端谈起，介绍了推动人体测量学发展的主要欧洲科学家和几次重要的国际史前人类学与考古学会议，简介了近年来活体测量的新方法。关于中国活体测量研究的起步与发展，在介绍了外国学者（鸟居龙藏、史禄国等）工作后，重点叙述了吴定良先生对中国体质人类学开创性工作。对1980年代活体测量迅速发展的原因进行了分析，对近四十多年来中国活体测量研究经历的初创时期、蓬勃发展时期、瓶颈时期和飞跃式发展时期进行了回顾，认为目前活体测量研究可能又进入瓶颈时期。作者论述了现生人群活体测量的意义、作用。

Anthropometry is an important branch of anthropology. This paper begins from the initial stage of anthropometry in the 18th century, introduces the main European scientists who promoted the development of anthropometry and several important international conferences of prehistoric anthropology and archaeology, and presents the new methods of anthropometry in recent years. Regarding the beginnings and development of anthropometry in China, after introducing the work of foreign scholars (Ryuzo Torii, Sergei M. Shirokogoroff, etc.), this paper focuses on Mr. Wu Dingliang’s pioneering work in Chinese physical anthropology. This paper analyzes the reasons for the rapid development of anthropometry in the 1980s, and reviews the initial period, vigorous development period, bottleneck period and leap-forward development period of China’s anthropometry research in the past 40 years. The author discusses the significance and function of the living population in anthropometry.