Abstract Studies are made in the paper on the fractal features of town-size distribution of urban system in the northern part of Henan Province. The spatial pattern and evolving trend of the hierarchical system are illustrated, which shows that the fractals of town-size distribution in the region have half degenerated and the hierarchical structure has dualized. The advantages and disadvantage of rise of fractal dimension are analysed and weighed and the mathematical method is presented to calculate the best fractal dimension for town-seze distribution. Finally, it is pointed out how to improve the hierarchical system of towns in the studied region by means of fractal theory.