Objective To evaluate the reliability and validity of a Chinese version of the attitudes toward obese persons (ATOP) scale among college nursing students. Methods A Chinese version of ATOP was obtained by forward translation, synthesis, back translation, and culture adjusting; the content validity was examined by expert committee review. A total of 407 valid questionnaires of Chinese ATOP were completed by a convenient sample of college nursing students. The psychometric properties of ATOP were examined by content validity index (CVI) for content validity, critical ratio (CR) for item analysis, factor analysis for construct validity and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient for internal consistency reliability. Additionally, the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) for test-retest reliability was tested in 20 nursing students after a two-week interval. Results The mean CVI of the Chinese version of ATOP was 0.97. The final Chinese version comprised 12 items and reflected 3 dimensions: different personalities, social difficulties and self-esteem, which explained 52.45% of the total variance. Confirmatory factor analysis further supported this three-dimension structure (χ²=93.75, df=51,χ²/df=1.84, RMSEA=0.06, NNFI=0.91, CFI=0.93, IFI=0.93, GFI=0.93, AGFI=0.89). The criterion-related validity was confirmed by the positive correlation between the total scores for ATOP and its subscale scores and the scores for internal weight locus of control. The internal consistency reliability evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha was 0.59-0.71 for the three subscales and the whole scale. The test-retest reliability across two weeks ranged from 0.52 to 0.83. There was a weak negative correlation between body mass index (BMI) and the self-esteem score. Nursing students who perceived themselves as overweight scored lower in the self-esteem factor and higher in the factor of different personality than those who did not. Conclusion The Chinese version of ATOP has satisfactory validity and acceptable reliability in measuring the attitudes toward obese persons, and can be used to evaluate the attitude of nursing students toward obesity.