Objective: To understand the current situation and influencing factors of physical exercise participation of rural primary and secondary school students in Jiangsu Province, and to provide reference for promoting healthy development of rural youth in Northern Jiangsu. Methods: A total of 3 597 rural primary and middle school students in Northern Jiangsu Province were selected to conduct a questionnaire survey on the status quo of physical exercise. Results: Only 37.6% of students in Northern Jiangsu had more than 3 hours of physical education every week, 23.6% of the students participated in extracurricular physical exercise for more than 3 times a week, 14.3% of the students participated in physical exercise for more than 1 hour every day, 77.9% of the students master more than 1 sports skills, 72.0% of students participated in extracurricular activities perceived, and 27.3% of the students participated in extracurricular sports professional counseling; 35.7% of the students reported lack of parental support physical education curriculum lacks of interest, 17.0% of the students didn t like the physical education teachers or their teaching methods, 28.6% of the students reported lack of sports venues or equipment, 8.4% of the students reported that their parents do not support, 38.2% of the students reported lack of extracurricular sports professional guidance, 18.1% of the students think that the performance of physical education didn t affect the evaluation and progress of the school. Univariate Logistic regression analysis showed that gender, academic stage, dislike of physical education teaching methods and lack of physical education professional guidance were the influencing factors of physical exercise participation havior of rural students(P<0.05). Conclusion The present situation of physical exercise of rural primary and secondary school students in Northern Jiangsu Province is not optimistic. Special attention to the formation of female exercise behavior, improve the teaching quality of rural physical education and support the off campus sports training institutions.