During 2001 and 2002, insecticide resistance in the fourth instar larvae of striped stem borer (Chilo suppressalis), which were collected from Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces in China, was monitored using topical application method. Low level of resistance to fipronil (6.5-fold) was detected for the first time in RA (Ruian) population from southeast Zhejiang, but the other six populations tested remained susceptible to this recently introduced insecticide. No resistance to abamectin had been found after examining six populations from Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui provinces. Resistance to triazophos was monitored in ten populations from the four Provinces, and very high level resistance(163.1-fold) was found in RA population, moderate (18.2-fold) in WZ (Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province) population, and low (6.7- to 9.7-fold) in populations of CS (Changshu), XS (Xishan) and JT (Jintan) from south Jiangsu, whereas the other five populations were susceptible. All the nine populations monitored were resistant to monosultap with varying degree, i.e. high level (113.7- and 57.6-fold, respectively) of resistance in RA and YF (Yifeng, Jiangxi Province) populations, moderate (11.0- to 29.7-fold) in WZ, CS, JT and TH (Taihu, Anhui Province) populations, low (6.7- and 7.5-fold, respectively) in XY (Xinyang, Jiangsu Province) and XS populations, and the lowest (3.7-fold) in GY (Guanyun, Jiangsu Province) population. Inheritance of resistance in triazophos selected strain Rts was studied through reciprocal cross and backcross experiments. The preliminary results indicated that inheritance of triazophos resistance in Rts strain was incompletely dominant, with degrees of dominance being 0.46 and 0.68 for reciprocal crosses, and that the resistance was controlled by a major gene, though minor modifying gene(s) might be involved.