Rotating wall vessel (RWV) was used for the ex-vivo expansion of umbilical cord blood stem cells to meet the requirement of clinical application in the aspect of quantity and quality of the stem cells. The mononuclear cells (MNCs) from umbilical cord blood were cultured in T-flasks for 24 h, and then inoculated in RWV to culture for 200 h. The nucleated-cell numbers, pH and osmolality of the culture medium were determined every 24 h. The CD34+ cells content was measured and CFU-GM culture was carried out at 144 h and 197 h. Nucleated cells (NC) and CD34+ cells had a 435.5 +/- 87.6 fold expansion and a 32.7 +/- 15.6 fold expansion respectively in 197 h, and CFU-GM (colony-forming unit-granulocyte/macrophage) cells had a 21.7 +/- 4.9 fold expansion. In the whole course of culture, the pH and osmolality of the medium in the RWV were kept in the optimal hematopoietic stem cells' expansion conditions. pH was kept from 7.2 to 7.4, and the osmolality was kept from 290 mmol/kg to 310 mmol/kg. Owing to its structural particularity, the RWV could ensure cells to grow in the suspension state, could simulate the micro-environment of umbilical cord blood, and thus could make the hematopoietic stem cells expand largely in the RWV in short time.