Objective To evaluate the applicability of the Chinese version of SF-36 ( v. 2 ) scale for evaluating the quality of life of hospitalized patients with chronic heart failure. Methods From September 2013 to December 2014, 159 patients with chronic heart failure(NYHA I-IV), who were older than 18 years, clear mind and well self-expressed, were selected as participants. Questionnaire surveys included general survey and SF-36(v. 2) scale. Internal consistency reliability, binary reliability and construct validity were all analyzed as indicators to evaluate SF-36 ( v. 2 ) scale. Results A total of 159 questionnaires were issued and 159 valid questionnaires were recovered. The eight dimensions of SF-36(v. 2) scale including physical function (PF), role-physical (RP), bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), social function (SF), vitality (VT), role-emotion(RE), and mental health (MH) score conversion were (41.57 ±24.86), (48.35 ±21.64), (69.18 ± 25. 68), (31. 28 ± 16. 01), (48. 90 ± 19. 53), (45. 05 ± 22. 76), (59. 43 ± 24. 31), (57. 55 ± 19. 03); the floor effects were 2. 5%, 4. 4%, 3. 1%, 4. 4%, 3. 1%, 6. 3%, 0. 6%, 1. 3%; the ceiling effects were 0. 0%, 3. 8%, 21. 4%, 0. 0%, 0. 0%, 1. 9%, 3. 1%, 0. 0%. The item-convergent validity all achieved the standard (r≥0. 4), and the total scaling success rate of item-convergent was 100. 00%; the dimensions′success rates of item-discriminant validity of RP, BP, RE and SF were all 100%, the rest of four dimensions were PF 95. 71%, GH 85. 71%, VT 89. 29%, MH 94. 29%, and the total success rate was 94. 69%. Internal consistency reliability ranged from 0. 738 to 0. 919; the binary reliability ranged from 0. 808 to 0. 963. Within factors analysis, two common factors were confirmed, separately representing physical health and mental health, altogether making contribution of 61. 66% cumulative variance. Conclusions As the revision of SF-36(v. 1), SF-36(v. 2) scale seemed more friendly in layout for questions and answers, the floor and ceiling effects significantly reduced. Additionally, it also shows good reliability and validity in the evaluation of quality of life of hospitalized patients with chronic heart failure, and the SF-36(v. 2) scale can be used to evaluate the quality of life ( QOL) of patients with chronic heart failure.