The Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS-11) is an important tool for measuring impulsivity in suicide research. This study aimed to assess psychometric characteristics of Chinese version of BIS-11 in suicides and controls of rural China. Data of 200 pairs of suicide cases and living controls were collected by psychological autopsy method. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients of BIS-11 were 0.936 for suicides, and 0.892 for living controls. Convergent validity analysis demonstrated a significantly positive correlation between the scores of BIS-11 with the scores of Beck Hopelessness Scale and Trait Anxiety Inventory. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the BIS-11 structure was basically suitable in rural China. With its high reliability, few items in BIS-11 may need a modification in order to further improve the construct validity of this instrument for suicide research in rural China.