The photosynthetic characteristics of twenty-five rice varieties released from 1958 to 2005 in Jilin Province,China were investigated in 2006 and 2007. The grain yield were linearly increased from 6 671.9 kg/hm2 in 1958 to 11 853.2 kg/hm2 in 2005,with an annual increase of 110.2 kg/hm2 (1.65%) in the 47 years. The harvest index,growth duration and spikelets/leaf area ratio were increased year by year and significantly correlated with grain yield. The photosynthetic rate of leaf increased and significantly and positively correlated with grain yield. The increase in photosynthetic rate was due to the increase in apparent leaf mesophyll conductance. The photosynthetic rate of modern variety was restricted by stomatal factors,due to the decrease of ratio of intercellular CO2 concentration to ambient CO2 concentration with year of release. The increase in transpiration rate exceed to that in photosynthetic rate,thus the water use efficiency descended. It is suggested that the improvement of water use should be paid attention to in future rice breeding.