Abstract: Objective To assess the applicability of the Japanese simple salt questionnaire in Chinese hypertensive population. Methods A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 734 hypertensive patients from 10 hospitals in China were enrolled. The information of the Japanese salt questionnaire was collected by on-site survey, and 24 h urinary sodium excretion was measured by ion-selective electrode method. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation between the questionnaire score and 24 h urinary sodium. Using 24 h urinary sodium as the gold standard, receiver operating characteristic（ROC） curve was performed to evaluate the efficacy of the questionnaire in diagnosing urinary sodium overload. And the sensitivity and specificity were described. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using linear models to determine the association of hypersaline behavior with 24 h urinary sodium. Results The average age of the subjects was（55.8±14.7） years, 44% were female. The mean urinary sodium was（142.8±81.1） mmol/d, equivalent to 8.4 g/d of dietary sodium. The score of Japanese simple salt questionnaire was 10.7±5.0. The correlation between questionnaire score and 24 h urinary sodium was 0.23（P＜0.01）. The differentiation of different questionnaire score bands was poor. When the score was 0-8（corresponding to low salt intake）, the 24 h urinary sodium had been exceeded（119.3 mmol/d）. The area under the ROC curve was 0.60（95%CI 0.55-0.64）. The sensitivity was only 28.8% and specificity was 81.0% using questionnaire score≥14 to determine urinary sodium overload. Multifactorial analysis showed that dietary habits such as eating a lot, eating out, frequent consumption of soy sauce and noodles were associated with increased 24 h urinary sodium. Conclusions The score of Japanese simple salt questionnaire is weakly correlated with and underestimates 24 h urinary sodium in China. The questionnaire should not be directly applied to the hypertensives in China.