To prepare hollow microcapsules composed of native chitosan (CS), a templating method is developed using poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA)-doped porous calcium carbonate (CaCO3) microparticles as sacrificial templates. At first, CS was adsorbed onto PMAA-doped porous CaCO3 microparticles, and then the adsorbed CS was covalently cross-linked with each other by using glutaraldehyde. After the dissolution of the templates, the resultant CS capsules ranged from 2 to 5 mu m in diameter. Nitrogen adsorption-desorption analysis are applied to characterize the porous CaCO3 templates, the BET surface area and total pore volume are 160 and 0.50 cm(3)/g. The structure and morphology of the CS capsules are characterized by FESEM and TEM. Confocal laser scanning microscopy images reveal that the capsules have been labeled with green FITC. The gradual capsule invagination in response to bulk osmotic pressure created by CS solutions has also been discussed.