Shanxi aged vinegar (SAV) and Zhenjiang aromatic vinegars (ZAV) are representative of minor grain crop vinegars in the north of China and rice vinegars in the south, respectively. The nutritional composition of five Chinese vinegars, including three typical SAV and two ZAV, were determined. Investigations showed that these vinegars differed from each other in terms of the organic acid content (75.32-175.95 g/L), and amino acids (1215.9-2878.8 mg/100 g). SAV, especially oat vinegar, were 9-40, 2-211, 4-210, 1-3 and 1-1.5 times higher than ZAV in calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, and manganese contents, respectively. Nicotinic acid, nicotinamide, phenolics, alkaloids and saponin in these vinegars were shown to be 2.33-37.83 mg/100g, 1.23-35.03 mg/100g, 382.4-4518.1 μ g/mL, 0.088-1.209 mg/mL, and 0.183-0.662 mg/mL, respectively. SAV seemed relatively better than ZAV in terms of essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins and also exhibited strong α-glucosidase inhibitory activities. These results suggested that both types of typical Chinese vinegars could be used as health foods, despite their different raw materials and processing technologies.