Historical exposure estimates of total dust and respirable silica were made in a recent nested case-referent study of lung cancer among mine and pottery workers in China. Exposure to total dust and respirable silica was assessed in 20 mines and 9 pottery factories. The average total dust concentration was 7.26 mg center dot m-3, with a range from 17.68 mg center dot m-3 in the 1950s to 3.85 mg center dot m-3 in the 1980s, while the average respirable silica dust was 1.22 mg center dot m-3, with a range from 3.89 mg center dot m-3 in the 1950s to 0.43 mg center dot m-3 in the 1980s. The highest respirable silica dust occurred in the underground mining operations (1.43 mg center dot m-3), particularly for manual drillers (9.03 mg center dot m-3). Among all facility types, tungsten mines had the highest respirable silica dust exposure (1.75 mg center dot m-3), while the lowest exposure occurred in copper-iron mines (0.32 mg center dot m-3).