Abstract： Objective To clarify the difference between Shennong's Herbal Classic and modern Chinese medicine on the expression of four properties and five flavors,and to provide reference to guide clinical rational drug use.Methods The 365 traditional Chinese medicines from Shennong's Herbal Classic were used as the source of statistics,and the drugs from Shennong's Herbal Classic collected in Chinese Pharmacopoeia(2020)and Clinical Medication Guidelines(2015)were used as the research objects.A database was established to compare the differences in the description of'four properties'and'five flavors'of traditional Chinese medicine.Results Totally 203 traditional Chinese medicines were counted,66(32.51％)of which were completely different in the description of the four properties of traditional Chinese medicines;while 20(9.85％)drugs had completely inconsistent expressions of the five flavors of traditional Chinese medicine.Conclusion By comparing the Chinese Pharmacopoeia,Instructions for Clinical Use of Drugs and Shennong's Herbal Classic,most descriptions of the four properties and five flavors of Chinese medicines are consistent and those that are inconsistent deserve further in-depth study.