To evaluate the mercury (Hg) exposure level of children located in a Hg mining area, total Hg concentrations and speciation were determined in hair and urine samples of children in the Wanshan Hg mining area, Guizhou Province, China. Rice samples consumed by these same children were also collected for total mercury (THg) and methyl-mercury (MeHg) analysis. The geometric mean concentrations of THg and MeHg in the hair samples were 1.4 (range 0.50-6.0) mu g/g and 1.1 (range 0.35-4.2) mu g/g, respectively, while the geometric mean concentration of urine Hg (UHg) was 1.4 (range 0.09-26) mu g/g Creatinine (Cr). The average of the probable daily intake (PDI) of MeHg via rice consumption was 0.052 (0.0033-0.39) mu g/kg/day, which significantly correlated with the hair MeHg concentrations (r = 0.55, p