Stem is an important constituent part of the maize plant， which closely affects lodging and grain yield. A study of the trend of stem-related traits of inbred lines of maize grown in China in different decades from 1960 s to 1990 s would provide references for maize breeding for lodging resistance and high yield. In this study， maize stem-related traits， including stem height（ SH）， ear height（ EH）， stem node number（ SN）， ear node（ EN）， stem diameter（ SD）， stem moisture content（ MC）， stem soluble sugar content（ Brix）， and ear height coefficient （ EHc） and ear node coefficient（ ENc） derived from some of them were investigated in 65 representative maize inbred lines of the different decades. Using these stem-related phenotypic data， ANOVA， correlation analysis and the trends in the different decades were studied. The results showed that there were significant differences in the stem traits among the maize inbred lines， while no significant difference of maize stem-related traits existed among the different decades； SH， EH， SN， and EN were decreasing from decade to decade； the EH improved significantly in the time period； around the 1980 s， the selection criteria of maize stem thickness reversed from robust to slender stems， which might be resulted from the breeding goal of increasing yield through rational dense planting； in the 1990 s， MC decreased by 3%， which was significantly different from the 1980 s. Maize lodging resistance has always been an important research in China， with EH improvement coming to a significant effect，and SN and EN becoming important focuses in maize breeding of lodging resistance and high yield.