SUMMARY: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been a public health concern since it was first identified in the United Kingdom in 1961. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of MRSA in the PLA 309 Hospital located in Beijing, China, and we determined the susceptibility of S. aureus to novel oxazolidinone analogs and 13 conventional antimicrobial agents. It was shown that drug resistant patterns were severe among the clinical isolates, and the average rate of MRSA among the S. aureus strains was 56.3z. All the S. aureus strains tested were completely susceptible to linezolid, but the minimum inhibitory concentration distribution drifted upwards. Among the novel oxazolidinone analogs, sy142 exhibited more potent antimicrobial activity than linezolid against both the standard and clinical S. aureus strains. This observation provides an impetus for the development of potential novel agents based on sy142 in the near future to combat MRSA and linezolid-resistant S. aureus.