A pot experiment was conducted to study nitrogen accumulation and translocation quantitatively in rice plants different in cultivar and in nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) after full heading of the crop by applying ¹⁵Nfertilizer. Results show that Wuyunjing and Nanguang，two high NUE rice cultivars，were higher in grain yield than Elio，a low NUE rice cultivar，regardless of N application rates. No significant difference in dry matter accumulation and in N accumulation was observed between the rice cultivars of high NUE and of low NUE at the full heading stage and 15 days after full heading，but at the maturing stage Wuyunjing and Nanguang was 16.4% higher than Elio in dry matter accumulation，and 31% and 21% higher in N accumulation. The differences were significant. Results of the ¹⁵Nfetilizer experiment show that in Elio a portion of the ¹⁵N absorbed by the plant was translocated out of its stems and leaves，accounting for 11% of the total ¹⁵N translocated. During the growth period from full heading to maturity，the ¹⁵N translocated from the stems and leaves in Elio (2.75 mg hill^{-1) was much less than that in Wuyun (3.54 mg hill-1) and Nanguang (3.22 mg hill-1). The differences were significant. The 15N translocated from the stems and leaves of Wuyunjing and Nanguang was equal to 91% and 85%，respectively，of the N in the grains，while the 15N the plants absorbed from the soil accounted for 9% and 15%，respectively of the total N absorbed. To sum up，the rice plants do not vary much in N accumulation and N translocation until the post-full-heading stage，and the high N absorption capacity and the strong N translocation ability of the rice cultivars high in NUE can satisfy the demand of the plants for N during their grain forming stage.}