Abstract: Eighty-five physical characteristics of 320 urban adults (145 males and 175 females) and 514 rural adults (256 males and 258 females) of the Han people were investigated in the Xing’an League of Inner Mongolia, with 32 physical indices calculated and interpreted.
Results are as follows. Most people have an upper eyelid eyefold, with the percentage of Mongoloid fold 44.5%. Opening height of the eyeslits is narrow, and the direction of eye-slit angle shows that external angles are generally higher than internal angles. Nasal profile is straight, and nasal root height is of medium-type for males and low-type for females. Nasal base is upturned or horizontal, and the maximal diameter of nostrils is transverse and oblique. The height of the alae nasi is of medium type as is the upper lip skin height. Lobe type is round in males and triquetrous in females. Hair color is black and eye color is brown. Skin color is described as dark yellow or yellow for males and yellow or light yellow for females. Typical physical characteristics of these Han people include hyperbrachycephalic, hypsicephalic and mesocephalic types, leptorrhiny, mesoprosopy, broad chested circumference, with broad distances between iliac crests, broad or medium shoulder breadth, long trunks and sub-brachyskelic type. The mean statures of males and females were 1668.3mm and 1554.7mm, respectively. According to Martin’s classification of stature, these people are of high stature for urban adults but medium or sub-medium stature for rural adults. The span (male 1688.8mm, female 1555.7mm) is slightly longer than stature. Mean body weight was 66.8kg in males and 58.2kg in females, and the body mass index (BMI) of urban adults (male 24.8, female 24.3) reached the level of overweight but the BMI of rural adults (male 23.4, female 23.8) was normal. This research showed that the physical status of urban adults was better than rural adults, and that these Han peoples from the Xing’an League in Inner Mongolia were close in physical characteristics to the Mongol, Hui, Xibe and other ethnic groups in northern China.

Key words: Somatoscopy; Anthropometry; Inner Mongolia; Xing’an; Han