Chitosan was prepared with stressing method by blending chitin and solid alkali in a single-screw extruder at given temperature and characterized by potentiometric titration, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), infrared spectrum (IR) and carbon-13 magnetic resonance sperctroscopy ( 13 C NMR) . Chitosan with a deacetylation degree (DD) of 76.1% was obtained at a mass ratio 0.2∶1∶1 for H_ 2 O/chitin/NaOH at 160 ℃ for 12 min. Compared to conventional solution method(usually 1∶10 for chitin/NaOH), the alkali assumption greatly decreased. Molecular weight of chitosan obtained by solid-phase method(S3,M_w1.54×10 5 ) was lower than that obtained by suspension method(Y2,M_w3.34×10 5 ). During deacetylation, molecular weight decreased with high reaction temperature and long reaction time but remained same at different initial ratios of NaOH/chitin. It might be concluded that degradation of chitosan was caused by breakout of the main chain of the oxidized chitosan catalyzed by alkali during the deactylation. IR and 13 C NMR showed that structures of chitosans prepared by solid-phase method were not changed. Chitosan was prepared with stressing method by blending chitin and solid alkali in a single-screw extruder at given temperature and characterized by potentiometric titration, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), infrared spectrum (IR) and carbon-13 magnetic resonance sperctroscopy Chitosan with a deacetylation degree (DD) of 76.1% was obtained at a mass ratio of 0.2: 1: 1 for H 2 O / chitin / NaOH at 160 ° C for 12 min. Molecular weight of chitosan obtained by solid-phase method (S3, M_w1.54 × 10 5) was lower than that obtained by suspension method (Y2, M_w3.34 × 10 5). It may be said that degradation of chitosan was caused by breakout of the main chain of the oxidized chitosan catalyzed by alkali during the deactylation. IR and 13 C NMR showed that structures of chitosans prepared by solid-phase method were not changed.