Abstract: In this study, the physical characteristics of 308 adults(156 males and 152 females) of the Waxiang people living in Yuanling County, Hunan Province were investigated. Twenty-one physical indices were calculated and their distributions determined. The results were summarized as follows. The hair was thick, black and straight. The percentage of Mongoloid fold was low in contrast to the eye fold of the upper eyelid, which was high. The eye crack was medium height and it's lateral angle was higher than the medial angle. The nasal root was high whereas the alae nasi was of medium height. The nasal bridge was straight in males and concave in females. The nasal base was upturned in most people. The upper lip was protruding and went beyond the lower lip, and the total thickness of the lips were thicker. The auricle was mostly oval-or egg-shaped, but the lobulus auriulae was mostly rounded. According to anthropometric standards for males and females, the types of physical characteristics of the Waxiang people were mostly of short stature, medium type, narrow shoulder breadth, mesatiskelic type, hyperleptoprosopy, brachycephaly, hypsicephaly, metriocephaly, and mesorrhiny. Comparing the Waxiang people with 27 other minorities living southern China, a cluster analysis showed that the physical characteristics of the Waxiang were most closely related to that of Derung and Lahu in Yunhan, and were remotely related to those of Lisu and Dong in Guangxi, and Tujia in Xiangxi. Thus this research concludes that the physical characteristics of Waxiang people in Hunan Province belonged to the South Asian type of Mongoloid race.

Key words: Somatoscopy; Anthropometry; Physical characteristics; Waxiang people