Abstract: The somatotypes of 2511 students of Han Nationality (1253 boys and 1258 girls) living in urban and rural areas of Weifang of Shandong Province aged between 7-19 years old were randomly collected and studied with the Heath-Carter somatotyping method in August and September, 2000. The mean somatotypes of the urban boys in 7-15 age groups were Central, and in 16-18, Endomorph-Mesomorph. The mean somatotypes of the rural boys in 7-10 were Mesomorph-Ectomorph, in 11-14, Mesomorphic Ectomorph, in 15-17, Central, and in 18-19, Endomorph-Mesomorph. On the other hand, the mean somatotypes of the urban girls in 7-9 were Central, in 10, Balanced Endo-morph, in 11-12, Mesomorph-Ectomorph, and in 13-18, Balanced Endomorph. The mean somato-types of the rural girls in 7-12 were Balanced Ectomorph, in 13-14, Ectomorph-Endomorph, and in 15-18, Balanced Endomorph. The difference in the mean somatotypes became significant between the boys and girls from 9 years old in the city and 7 years old in the country (t =2.87, P <0.05), and more significant from 13 years old (t =4.21, P <0.001).

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