The purpose of this study was to explore the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the autism spectrum rating scale (ASRS). We recruited 1,625 community-based children and 211 autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases from 4 sites, and the parents of all participants completed the Chinese version of the ASRS. A robust weighted least squares means and variance adjusted estimator was used for exploratory factor analysis. The 3-factor structure included 59 items suitable for the current sample. The item reliability for the modified Chinese version of the ASRS (MC-ASRS) was excellent. Moreover, with 60 as the cut-off point, receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that the MC-ASRS had excellent discriminate validity, comparable to that of the unmodified Chinese version (UC-ASRS), with area under the curve values of 0.952 (95% CI: 0.936-0.967) and 0.948 (95% CI: 0.930-0.965), respectively. Meanwhile, the confirm factor analysis revealed that MC-ASRS had a better construct validity than UC-ASRS based on the above factor solution in another children sample. In conclusion, the MC-ASRS shows better efficacy in epidemiological screening for ASD in Chinese children.