Objective To explore the etiology and clinical characteristics in hospitalized children with community-acquired pneumonia(CAP) in Yancheng. Methods Retrospective analysis of the clinical date of 541 chileren with CAP in pediatrics respiratory department of Yancheng Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital from October 2014 to September 2015.Multi pathogen detection during hospitalization included:7 kinds of common respiratory virus antigens,myconplasma(MP)pneumonia IgM antibody,anti-Epstein-Barr virus antiboby,sputum culture or blood culture. Results The pathogen positive detection rate was 62.8%.Mycoplasma infection was 26.8%,virus infection was 21.8%,and bacterial infection was 16.8%.From a single point of view,MP infection rate was the highest (28.7%),followed by respiratory virus,streptococcus pneumonia.MP detection positive rate of children with CAP of 1 to 5 years old group and 5 to 14 years old group were both high.Virus infection mainly occurred in infants under 1 year of age.The age and the occurrence and degree of fever had positive relationship.The proportion of children with fever was lower (41.6%) in the group of less than 1 year old mainly as low and moderate degree,while in the group of more than 1 year old higher (55.6%),fever mainly as high degree.The incidence of cough and wheezing in children with CAP who were under 5 years old was significantly higher than that of group of age more than 5 years old.The younger the age,the more obvious pulmonary signs.Little patchy shadows occurred commonly in infants less than 1 year old as single-lung involved.Large patchy shadows occurred commonly in children between 5 to 14 years old as bilateral lung involved.Pleural effusion and atelectasis occurred. Conclusions The CAP pathogens of the hospitalized children in Yancheng are mycoplasmar,virus,bacteria.The rate of pathogen examination is different in CAP patients of different age groups.Children with CAP of different ages and etiology infection are quite distinct from each other in imaging characteristics.