Abstract: The adult somatotypes of 1001 persons (M502, F499) aged 20 —88 of Han Nationality of Shandong Province were studied by the Heath-Carter somatotyping method on August and September, 2000. The mean somatotype in the male falls in Endo-mesomorph category (4. 4 —4. 8 —1. 7), with the urban average 4. 6 —4. 7 —1. 5 and the rural 4. 2 —4. 8 —1. 8, while that of the female, Meso-Endom- orph category(5. 7 —4. 2 —1. 4), with the urban average 5. 8 —4. 2 —1. 3 and rural 5. 6 —4. 2 —1. 4. The main somatotypes of the male were Endo-Mesomorph, Endo. Mesomorph and Meso. Endomorph among the 13 somatotypes while those of the female were Meso. Endomorph and Endo-Mesomorph. The males differed from the females in the somatotypes. In both sexes with increasing age the values of En- domorph and Mesomorph were increased, while the values of Ectomorph decreased (male: 20 — 45years; female: 20 —55years). The somaotypes significantly changed after the age of 30 in urban males and in all the females. The somatotype means were 3. 9 —4. 3 —2. 3 (urban: 4.0 —4. 2 —2. 3 ; rural: 3. 7 —4. 5 —2. 3), 4. 7 —3. 3 —2. 4(urban: 4. 8 —3. 3 —2. 3 ;rural: 4. 5 —3. 4 —2. 4), 4. 6 — 4. 9 —1. 5 (urban: 4. 8 —4. 9 —1. 3 ;rural: 4. 4 —4. 9 —1. 7) and 6.0 —4. 5 —1.0 (urban: 6. 2 — 4. 6 —0. 9 ;rural:5. 9 —4. 5 —1. 1) in the males below the age of 30, the females below 30, the males over the age of 30 and the females over 30, respectively. There was no difference in the somatotypes between the urban and rural samples in the same sex and age group. Comparing the somatotype mean of Han nationality of Shandong Provence with that of the other 5 minorities of China and some foreign ethnic samples, we found that the male somatotype of Han is similar to those of the Mongol, Canada samples, while the female somatotype is similar to those of Mongol, Oroqen, Ewenki and Daur.

Key words: Heath-Carter somatotyping; Anthropometry; Han nationality; Shandong Province