Soil and plant samples were collected from 12 different rural areas of Beijing, China. Metals [calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn)] in the soils were partitioned by the Tessier's and BCR's sequential extraction procedures. The results obtained showed significant correlation between the metals extracted in the three steps of the BCR's procedure and that extracted in the corresponding steps of the Tessier's method. The correlations were identical whether using the Tessier's or BCR's procedure in evaluating plant availability of soil metals. Correlation analysis indicated that the Zn and Mn contents in the plant were positively correlated to Zn and Mn bound to Fe‐Mn oxides in the soil. However, the Ca content in the plant was negatively correlated to Ca bound to carbonates in the soil. The Fe and Cu content in different parts of corn were not significantly correlated to the different metal forms in the soil. The “best”; regression equations were obtained by stepwise multiple regression analysis to predict the metal absorption by corn.