According to the national guidelines of the “Conduct of tests for the distinctness， uniformity and stability of new varieties—Capsicum”， forty-seven morphological markers were included in characterizing of 457 new pepper varieties， including traits quantification， traits correlation analysis， cluster analysis and cultivation stability analysis across years， in order to reveal the characteristics and genetic diversity of current pepper varieties in China. The evaluation of 11 quantitative traits revealed considerable polymorphisms amongst the tested varieties. The coefficient of variation between varieties ranged from 23% to 93%. However， the average coefficient of variation within a variety was below 20%. It indicated that the tested varieties have relatively consistent performance within variety while abundant variations across varieties. The traits correlation analysis showed a significant correlation among 4 groups of quantitative traits. Cluster analysis separated the 457 varieties into 10 major groups at the genetic similarity coefficient of 0.52， and most of the varieties were assigned into three major clusters. Stability of their phenotypic performance was analyzed based on two-year cultivation experiments. The results showed that the performance of the varieties was relatively stable across two years， and the average correlation coefficient was 88.0%. The stability of single measurement traits was higher than that of group visual traits， and the group measurement traits has the lowest stability across years. This study provides the basis for the objective and rigorous evaluation of pepper varieties and valuable references for the pepper breeding in the future.