To compare the plasma lipid, lipoprotein and apolipoprotein profiles of people of Chinese and European origin, a sample of 151 male Chinese subjects was selected from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, P R China to 202 broadly age-matched subjects in Belfast who were selected as controls in a case-control study of myocardial infarction. Mean total cholesterol (TC) was 6.15 mmol/l in Belfast and 4.28 mmol/l in Taiyuan. Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) was much higher in Belfast. High density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) was also higher in Belfast than in Taiyuan but the ratio of HDL to TC was lower in Belfast than Taiyuan. Triglyceride (TG) levels were similar and this was reflected in the relatively high level of apolipoprotein E (apo E) in the Chinese sample.