Objective To explore the positive effects of dancing train to self-esteem and social function in chronic schizophrenia patients.Methods By random sampling,40 male and 40 female chronic schizophrenic inpatients with dancing train were enrolled as the research group in our study training.According to gender,age,education,diagnosis,hospital stays and other factors,80 inpatients without dancing train were enrolled as the control group by paired choice.Both groups were evaluated with Self-esteem Scales (SES) and Scales of Social Practice of Inpatients (SSPI) at pre-and post-training.Results Comparison between the research group and control group showed that it had no significant difference between every value of scales in male and female before training; after training the research group's every indicants was better than that of the control group,and there were significant differences.Compared between pre-and post-training,the research group had significant differences but the control group did not.Before training,no significant differences between male and female of the research group.Compared with male inpatients,females achieved significantly better scores in SES,SSPI and 2 items of daily living and positive social communication after dancing train for 8 weeks.There were significant differences between male and female inpatients in SES,SSPI and 3 items of SSPI at pre-and post-train.Conclusions Dancing train can be effective to the residue symptoms in schizophrenic patients and improve social function and self-esteem of male and female inpatients.