Nine important vegetables were collected from northern Chinese wholesale markets and analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contents. Anthracene, flupranthene, benzo(a)anthracene and benzo(a)pyrene were determined. The contents of the four PAH congeners were at the same level with the mean concentrations 6.46, 4.05, 3.33, 4.51 microg kg(-1) for fresh weight for anthracene, flupranthene, benzo(a)anthracene and benzo(a)pyrene, respectively. However, leafy and stem vegetables had higher PAH content than root and fruit vegetables. Peels of the root and fruit vegetables had higher PAH concentrations than their cores. Human exposure to PAHs by consumption of these vegetables is estimated, by using typical northern Chinese intake rates, although the study was not designed to be statistically representative for the China as a whole.