Abstract: A survey was carried out to measure the stature and sitting height of 685 fatherson and 667 mother-daughter pairs of Han nationality in Beijing and Chongqing areas. The results indicate that sons |daughters are significantly taller than their fathers| mothers (inerease from 2. 3 to 4. 0 cm, p<0. 01) The average stature increased 3. 35 em during the last 28. 5 years. The two generations from urban area are higher than those from countryside. The height in the urban region increases more rapidly than that in the coun'tryside, and that of girls increases more than boys.

Key words: Physique anthropology; Stature; Sitting height; Correlation coefficient of stature; Heritability