There are generally four recognized classes of japonica rice cultivars grown in the lower region of the Yangtze River valley. The geographical distribution of the four classes is latitude-dependent. Variation for heading date (HD) among 29 japonica rice cultivars grown in the lower region of the Yangtze River valley and belonging to the four classes was characterized, and their sensitivity to variations in photoperiod and temperature was analyzed. All of the cultivars were sensitive to both photoperiod and temperature. A regression analysis showed that HD is closely correlated with photoperiod sensitivity (PS). The PS of the four classes increased gradually from the medium maturing middle (MMM) types, through the late maturing middle (LMM) and early maturing late (EML) types to the medium maturing late (MML) types. Crosses with tester lines established that almost all of the cultivars carry the dominant early-heading allele at Ef-1, the photoperiod insensitive allele e(2) and the PS alleles E(1) or E(1) (t). Most of the MMM, LMM and MML types carry the insensitive allele e(3), while EML types have either E(3) or E(3) (t). At Se-1, MMM and LMM types have Se-1(e), some EML types have Se-1(e) and others Se-1(n), while the MML types are mostly Se-1(n). The PS of some MMM, LMM and EML types is reduced by the presence of hd2. These results show that the distribution of the four rice cultivar classes from high latitude to low latitude regions depended on a gradual increase in PS, which is mainly determined by its HD genotypes.