The demographic, clinical, and social characteristics of 300 hypertensive patients (150 seen in the Hypertension Clinic at Yale University and 150 seen in a newly opened clinic at the First Affiliated Hospital of the Hunan Medical College) were compared at their initial visit to the clinic. The mean blood pressure of both treated and untreated patients and the frequency of mild hypertension and rarity of secondary causes of hypertension were similar. Americans drank more alcohol and were more likely to be heavy smokers, and the Chinese were older, had more end organ damage, and had many more symptoms. The majority of patients in China (77%) were being treated most often with combination pills containing multiple agents. We feel that hypertensive patients are similar in the United States and China, though the Chinese patients appeared to have been seen at a later stage of their disease.