Soils derived from the loess-like sediments in 5 hill areas of Jiangsu Province were studied.The examination results of the contents of TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ in non-clay fraction and the silt/clay ratio of subsoil samples showed that the properties of loess-like parent materials within Jiangsu Province varied gradually with location,and the boundary between Xiashu group and Qizui group of loess-like sediments was hard to ascertain.Such variation was one of the reasoms that diversified soils from the loess-like sediments.In the hill areas of Jiangsu Province,referring to Chinese Soil Taxonomic Classifition (1 st scheme),soils derived from loess-like sediments could be allocated into 6 soil great groups under 2 soil orders,i.e.,cinnamon soil,brown earth,acidic brown earth of Siallisols and yellow cinnaman soil,yellow-brown soil and brown-red soil of Ferosiallisols.Soil numerical classificatioci based on the principal component analysis reached a similar conclusion except that brown earth was absent.