Abstract: Objective To investigate the viral etiology of hospitalized children with acute respiratory infection in Suzhou. Methods A prospective study of hospitalized patients in the respiratory department of Soochow University affiliated children's hospital from November 2016 to May 2017 was conducted. We enrolled the patients based on strict inclusion criteria, such as local residents, disease occurred within 7 days and without admission in the previous 30 days. The nasopharyngeal secretions were collected for detection of influenza virus A and B (InfA & InfB) by Real-time fluorescence RT-PCR, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), parainfluenza virus (PIV) and rhinovirus (RV) by direct immunofluorescence (DFA), as well as bocavirus (BoV) by Real-Time PCR. We also collected the demographic and clinical information, and analyzed the epidemiological characteristics of tested respiratory viruses. Results A total of 479 samples were collected, and the grant positive rate of respiratory virus was 49.1% (235/479). RSV was the most common virus (26.1%), followed by influenza virus (7.7%), RV (7.3%), BoV (5.2%), PIV (4.6%) and ADV (1.5%). The positive rate of respiratory virus was highest in children aged >6 to ≤ 12 months old (59.6%), followed by ≤ 6 months of age (55.8%). The positive rate of respiratory virus decreased with age ((口恶)_Trend²=13.541,P=0.001). Conclusions RSV was the most common virus and influenza virus also played an important role in acute respiratory infections among children in Suzhou. Influenza A/H3N2 and influenza B/Victoria was prevalent at this season. The very young children were more susceptible to respiratory viral infection. Significant differences in age and time were observed in some respiratory virus infections.