This paper presents the results of field measurements on mercury speciation in six power plants of China by applying the Ontario hydro method. During the tests, flue gas was sampled simultaneously before and after particulate control devices (electrostatic precipitator and fabric filter baghouse) along with the pulverized coal, bottom ash and fly ash sampling. The amount of oxidized mercury in gas phase before and after ESP/FF suggests that mercury oxidation after combustion is a kinetically controlled process. The comparison of mercury speciation in different power plant indicates a clear relationship with coal type, especially the chlorine concentration and the basic ash compositions in coal. Both of the factors are analyzed quantitatively in this study. A new parameter C (ratio of chlorine in coal to base/acid ratio) has been introduced to evaluate the co-effect of the two factors above on mercury speciatiOD. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.