In this study, we determined the associations between gene-specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in MyoG gene, its association with meat quality characteristics and to evaluate the allelic and genotypic frequencies of five native Chinese cattle breeds.The breeds were Jiaxian red(JXR), Luxi (LX), Nan-yang (NY), Qinchuan (QC), Xia-Nan (XN).Their was a transition of G→ A at position 965 in intron 1 of the MyoG gene in cattle, that causedthe substitution (965Argnine/965Glanine).The G965A SNP was significantly associated with water holding capacity and meat tenderness (P <0.05) while no effect of genotype on back fat thickness, rib area, loin eye height, eye muscle width and marbling was disclosed (P>0.05).The x2-test revealed that the genotype distributions among four cattle breeds (JXR, LX, NY and QC) agreed with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P > 0.05), although one breed (XN) was not in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P < 0.01).We concluded that G965A SNP can be used as an efficacious genetic marker for meat quality traits in Chinese cattle but a much large number of animals are required for Marker assisted selection.