Abstract: The purpose of this study is to know the status and rule of growth and development in Dalian urban and rural students. According to the anthropometric method, we measured twenty-three items of 3 834 (boys of urban 630, girls of urban 645;boys of rural 1285, girls of rural 1274) Han nationality students aged 7—18 who live in area of Dalian. Based on the data published before, we researched the rule and trend of growth and development, the sexual differences and the regional differences of chief morphological indices of these students.The results showed as follows: 1.Characteristics of growth and development: With age increase, the average value of measuring items gradually increased, the growth curves of boys and girls appeared rising tendency and were crossed each other.2. Sex differences: there were obvious sex differences in all the measuring items in Dalian students. Among all the age groups the data showed that values of boys were larger than those of girls appeared notably significant differences except the group of female puberty (aged 10—12). 3.Secular growth change: during 26 years, the stature, body weight, girth of chest of boys and girls in Dalian aged 7—17 increased with a large extent, the average increased values every 10 years were 2.52 cm and 1.92 cm, 4.05 kg and 2.93 kg, 1.77 cm and 1.38 cm, respectively. 4.Differences between urban and ru-ral: differences remained between Dalian urban and rural boys and girls in stature, body weight and girth of chest.

Key words: Anthropometry; Growth and development; Secular growth change; Students