The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Escherichia coli in retail whole chicken in the People 9 s Republic of China. Five hundred seventy-six raw whole chicken samples, randomly purchased from 146 farmers' markets or supermarkets in four provinces from March through December 2010, were analyzed for E. coli contamination, and the E. coli isolates were further tested for the presence of virulence genes and antimicrobial susceptibility. The overall positive rate for E. coli in retail chicken was 69.1%. E. coli prevalence was the highest in Beijing (86.8%), followed by Henan province (78.5%), Shaanxi province (65.3%), and the lowest prevalence was found in Sichuan province (45.8%). Among 398 isolates recovered, only the eae gene was detected in one isolate; no other virulence genes were detected. Resistance was most common to tetracycline (84.4%), followed by nalidixic acid (74.1%), ampicillin (71.1%), trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (70.1%), amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (68.8%), and streptomycin (58.5%). Lower resistance was detected to chloramphenicol (43.7%), kanamycin (42.7%), ciprofloxacin (30.2%), gentamicin (29.4%), cefoperazone (13.6%), amikacin (12.6%), gatifloxacin (8%), and cefoxitin (7.8%). Only 3.8% of the isolates were susceptible to all tested antimicrobials. Six percent of the isolates displayed resistance to one antimicrobial, 6.3% to two, and 83.9% to three or more of the antimicrobials. Our findings indicate that retail chicken in China was commonly contaminated with E. coli, and many E. coli strains exhibited multiple drug resistance. The implementation of good manufacturing practices throughout the poultry production chain is necessary to reduce E. coli contamination in retail chicken, and the prudent use of antibiotics is imperative in poultry production in China.