[Objective] The paper provides references for the prevention of heavy metal pollution and the protection of cultivated soil environ- ment through exploring the content characteristics and the risk of heavy metals elements of paddy soil in Chongqing. 【Method】230 paddy soil samples were collected from 7 major and typical rice-growing regions in Chongqing, and the pH and the content of 5 heavy metal elements in- cluding Cd, Hg, As, Pb and Cr in paddy soil samples were analyzed. The Nemero pollution index evaluation method and the land accumula- tion index evaluation method were used to analyze the degree of pollution, and compared with the background value of heavy metals in Chongqing soil and the risk screening value of agricultural land soil. The characteristics of heavy metal pollution in Chongqing paddy soil were analyzed and evaluated. Then, the possible sources of heavy metal pollution in soil were explored through Pearson correlation analysis and cluster analysis. 【Result】 The average contents of Pb, Cd, Cr, As and Hg in the paddy soil of the research area were 25.4, 0.312, 66. 8, 4.71 and 0.0827 mg/kg, respectively. Through the analysis of single factor pollution index and Nemero pollution index evaluation methods, 19.57% of the paddy soil sites in the study area were in the state of Cd light pollution, 0.43% was in the state of Hg medium pol- lution, and the remaining points were in the state of no pollution. According to Geo-accumulation index, the paddy soil was lightly polluted by Cd, while the remaining heavy metal elements were at a non-polluted level. However, there were very few soils with extremely high ground accumulation index of Hg (4.03, belonging to the level of strong to extremely strong pollution). It was found that the content of Cd and Hg elements exceeded the background value of Chongqing soil, 2. 84 times and 1.38 times of the background value, respectively, with a cumulative effect; The content of Pb, Cr, As elements was slightly lower than the background value of Chongqing soil, and there was basi- cally no enrichment. The average content of heavy metals in the surveyed paddy soil was lower than the corresponding agricultural land soil risk screening value. Correlation and cluster analysis showed that heavy metal pollution mainly originated from soil formation processes and human factors. [Conclusion] The paddy soil in Chongqing is generally in a clean state, but there is a risk of Cd and Hg contamination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]