Abstract:At the beginning of its development, the Chinese Soil Taxonomy referenced the US Soil taxonomy, citing no a few concepts and names therefrom. The comparison between the two systems found that in the latter existed a Pale-type, which was translated into a name that coincided with the name of a soil type in the former, but differed in connotation. The Pale-type in the US Soil Taxonomy encompasses great groups and subgroups of soils, and its detailed retrieval conditions show that it is a more specific category that has no similar soil type in the Chinese Soil Taxonomy. In the US Soil Taxonomy, Pale-type is used to classify soils high in development degree and old in age. Through comparing and analyzing two editions of the US Soil Taxonomy and several editions of the Keys to Soil Taxonomy, this paper briefly introduces the origin of the setting of Pale-type and the revision course of its retrieval condition and retrieval sequence. At present, many pedologists have proposed to revise the Chinese Soil Taxonomy. On such a basis this paper is going to expound how the evolution process of the Pale-type setting enlighted the development of the Chinese soil taxonomy, with a view to providing suggestions for revision of the Chinese Soil Taxonomy.