Purpose. The purpose of the present study was to describe the baseline refractive and nearwork-induced transient myopia (NITM) characteristics of the Beijing Myopia Progression Study, a 3-year cohort study, that has three overall specific aims: to investigate the natural history of NITM in schoolchildren living in the inner city of Beijing aged between 7 and 17 years; to investigate the possible relation between NITM and permanent myopia; and to determine the possible associations with NITM (eg, parental history). Methods. Three hundred eighty-six students (187 males and 199 females) were enrolled. The mean ages were 8.4 +/- 1.1 years and 14.2 +/- 1.6 years for the primary school and secondary school students, respectively. Baseline refractive aspects were determined clinically. Initial NITM and its decay were assessed objectively immediately after binocularly viewing and performing a sustained near task (5 minutes; 5 diopters [D]), incorporating a cognitive demand with full distance refractive correction in place. Results. Initial NITM (mean +/- SD) / decay time (median, first quartile, and third quartile) was 0.18 +/- 0.16 D / 50 (20, 90) seconds, 0.09 +/- 0.13 D / 30 (10, 40) seconds, and 0.10 +/- 0.19 D / 20 (10, 40) seconds among the myopic, emmetropic, and hyperopic students, respectively, for the combined school levels. Initial NITM and decay time were significantly larger/longer in the myopic versus the other two refractive groups. Conclusions. The present findings demonstrate that in a large sample of school-aged children with myopia, the initial NITM magnitude was significantly larger and the decay duration was significantly longer than that observed in age-matched children with either emmetropia or hyperopia. Follow-up for the next 3 years will provide insight into the possible role of NITM in the development of permanent myopia. (Optom Vis Sci 2012; 89: 1725-1733)