This study focused on the Malan loess on the Longdong Plateau. A field experiment was conducted in order to study the capillary rise, and the rate of capillary rise in the loess was obtained. According to Terzaghi's theory and the estimation method proposed by Lu and Likos, the rate of capillary rise in the loess was calculated on the basis of the unsaturated soil-water characteristic curve, and was compared with the experimental value. The results show that the value obtained by Terzaghi爷s theory was larger because the permeability coefficient at the wetting front was presumed to be a saturated permeability coefficient. In contrast, the value obtained by the Lu and Likos method, which considered the unsaturated permeability of soil, had high prediction accuracy. It can therefore be used to estimate the rate of capillary rise in the loess if there is no access to a field experiment.