The germination rate of 150 soybean cultivars with different maturity groups from the northeast partof China were identified through sand culture in this article. The results showed that the germination rate of the culti-vars from the mid-late maturity group were the highest, followed by the cultivars from the middle and mid-early ma-turity groups, the germination rate of the cultivars from the very early maturity group were the lowest. This indicatedthat the earlier the maturity, the lower the germination rate. There were significant differences among the cultivars ofthe mid-late, early and very early maturity groups in the germination rate. There were no significant differencesamong the mid-late, middle and early maturity groups in the germination rate. Analysis on correlation among germi-nation rate and quality characters and 100-seed weight showed that the germination rate was not related to proteincontent, oil content and 100-seed weight of each maturity groups.