To study the characteristics of atmospheric pollutants in the urban area of Beibei district of Chongqing, the concentrations of the atmospheric pollutants were measured by automatic on-line continuous monitoring equipments from Jan. 2012 to Feb. 2013. The results showed that the concentrations of the pollutants often exceeded the corresponding values of the new National Ambient Air Quality Standards (GB 3095-2012) except SO2. Of these pollutants, PM2.5 was the most serious in this area. The concentrations of the atmospheric pollutants had significant seasonal variation. The concentrations of O3 and O(x) were both the highest in summer and the lowest in winter. The average concentrations of O3 were (36.1 +/- 19.2), (48.8 +/- 32.6), (29.8 +/- 28.6) and (18.2 +/- 15.8) microg x m(-3), and the average O(x) concentrations were (77.6 +/- 20.6), (91.3 +/- 37.6), (77.5 +/- 30.6) and (69.4 +/- 18.2) microg x m(-3) in spring, summer, autumn and winter in 2012, respectively. The concentrations of NO(x) appeared higher in winter and lower in summer, the average concentrations of NO, NO2 and NO(x) were (11.8 +/- 9.4), (42.3 +/- 13.1) and (54.1 +/- 20.8) microg x m(-3) in spring, (8.2 +/- 4.9), (40.5 +/- 9.9) and (48.7 +/- 12.6) microg x m(-3) in summer, (20.7 +/-17.1), (47.2 +/- 14.1) and (67.9 +/- 25.5) microg x m(-3) in autumn, and (30.4 +/- 25.1), (51.2 +/- 15.9), (81.6 +/- 37.9) microg x m(-3) in winter. The concentrations of SO2 appeared higher in spring and winter, and lower in summer and autumn. The concentrations of SO2 were (50.5 +/- 23.3), (26.3 +/- 16.7), (38.8 +/- 18.4) and (53.7 +/- 23.4) microg x m(-3) in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. The concentrations of PM2.5 appeared higher in winter and changed smoothly in other seasons, with the average concentration of (61.4 +/- 28.5), (68.1 +/- 32.5), (61.9 +/- 27.1) and (89.6 +/- 44.2) microg x m(-3) in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. The curves of diurnal variations of O3, O(x), NO, NO(x) and SO2 all showed single peak. However, the time of the peak values varied for different pollutants, 16:00 for O3 and O(x), and 8:00-11:00 for NO, NO(x) and SO2. The diurnal variations of NO2 and PM2.5 were similar to the two peaks that appeared in the morning and at night, respectively. Moreover, the diurnal ranges of O3 and O(x) concentrations were much wider in summer, while the wider ranges were observed in winter for NO, NO2, NO(x), SO2 and PM2.5. There was no difference in the diurnal pattern of NO between weekends and weekdays, the concentrations of N2O in weekdays were much higher than those on weekends, but with O3 the situation was the opposite. Correlation analysis indicated that the O3 concentration was positively correlated with temperature and wind speed, while negatively correlated with relative humidity. However, the situation of NO(x) was the opposite. PM2.5 concentration was negatively correlated with temperature and wind speed, while positively correlated with relative humidity. SO2 concentration had different correlations with the meteorological parameters in different seasons. In addition, wind direction was an important factor affecting the concentrations of the atmospheric pollutants.