The present paper deals with the soil classification in Ancient China.The historical development of the soil classification systems is summarized as follows:1.It was described is the book "Yu-kung" that following the floading control and river harness,a country-wide expedition of the soils had been carried out.The lands all over the country were divided into 9 regions according to the conditions of their eaploitatibn and utilization.At the same time.the soils were divided into 9 "soil types",each type subdivided into 3 grades and 9 sub-grades mainly on the basis of their fertility.2.It was recorded in the book "Chow-li" that the lands of the country were delimited into 5 "Soil Regions" in which the vegetation and animals were discribed.The delimitation of "Soil Regions" delimited mainly according to their topography was as follows:
(A) Mountain and Forest Landa
(B) River Plains and Depressions
(C) Hill Lands
(D) Upland and Coastal Lands
(E) Plain and Marshes
3.Aecording to the descriptibn in the book titled "Quan-sze",a more detailed soil classification system was developed on the basis of the "Soil Type" and "Soil Region" mentioned above.In this system,the soils were divided into 18 "Soil Groups",and subdivided into 90 "Sub-groups" acenrding to their utilization,vegetation and soil properties,including colour,texture,structure,prosity and ground water regime etc..From this stwdy,in may be concluded that the soil classification of Ancient China was developed mainly on the basis of the knowledge of "soil adaptation to vegetation",and it not only provided a favorable foundation for land utilization,but also was a splendid chapter in the history of development of soil science.