[Objectives]  To investigate reproductive, overwintering dormancy, including the natural duration of dormancy and its successive stages, to improve the conservation, artificial cultivation and utilization of wild populations of Kallima inachus (Doyére, 1840). [Methods]  The reproductive development of female adults in a semi-natural experimental population in early summer was graded according to the degree of oocyte development. The stage of dormancy (i.e. diapause or quiescence) was determined mainly by whether female adults in the early overwintering period resumed ovarian development under suitable environmental conditions. The developmental status of overwintering females held in conditions similar to the natural environment was inspected at regular intervals to determine the period of natural dormancy. Overwintering females were transferred to experimental conditions of 25 ℃ (L︰D =15︰9 and RH 70 %) at regular intervals to determine when diapause was terminated, as indicated by the resumption of ovarian development. [Results]  (1) 2-day-old  female adults developed oocytes with yolk in early summer, and all females had mature oocytes on the 14th day after eclosion. There was a significant linear relationship between reproductive development and age that could be divided into four stages. (2) After incubation for 12 days in conditions similar to that of the natural environment in early summer (25 ℃, L : D =15 : 9 and RH 70 %), 11 day-old overwintering adults that had eclosed in early October did not initiate reproductive development. (3) Most ten-day-old female adults that had eclosed on September 8 became reproductively dormant when held under semi-natural environmental conditions, although a few still continued reproductive development. All but one of the female adults that eclosed on October 1 were reproductively dormant from mid-October to late December when held under semi- natural environmental conditions but ovarian development began in some individuals in early January of the following year. (4) Female adults could not resume reproductive development rapidly at 25 ℃ until mid to late December, but by late December most individuals had resumed development at 25 ℃, although a small number still showed no sign of ovarian development, indicating individual differences in diapause intensity. [Conclusion]  The overwintering, reproductive dormancy of K. inachus is a typical diapause. While the majority of female adults in a semi-natural experimental population were reproductively dormant from mid-September to late January, some individuals began ovarian development in early January. Overwintering female adults were at the stage of diapause maintenance till the beginning of December, and gradually entered a period of post-diapause quiescence from late December.