Objective: To establish high-performance thin-layer chromatog. (HPTLC) fingerprint anal. method of Atractylodes chinensis for the identification of authentic Atractylodes chinensis and Atractylodes japonica. Methods: Pre-coated silica gel 60 HPTLC plate was adopted, petroleum ether (60-90°C)-acetone (9:2) was used as developing solvent. Visualization of the chromatogram was performed by spraying with 10% sulfuric acid-ethanol solution The TLC chromatograms of Atractylodes chinensis and Atractylodes japonica were measured by HPTLC at 366 nm. Fingerprint system solution software was used to establish the common pattern, and the similarity evaluation, cluster anal., principal component anal. and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant anal. were carried out. Results: The fingerprints of Atractylodes chinensis and Atractylodes japonica contained 9 common peaks resp. From both of them the atractylodes macrolide IIIAnd atractylodin were identified. The similarity between Atractylodes chinensis and Atractylodes japonica and their common pattern were 0.89-0.99 and 0.51-0.99 resp., among which there was a great difference between batches of Atractylodes japonica. The similarity between Atractylodes japonica and the common pattern of Atractylodes chinensis was 0.29-0.33. Principal component anal. and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant anal. can distinguish Atractylodes chinensis from Atractylodes japonica, and six markers were screened out, including peak 4, peak 5, peak 6, peak 7, peak 8 and peak 10 (atractylodin). Conclusion: The established HPTLC fingerprint anal. method are simple, reproducible and specific, which can provide reference for the variety identification and quality evaluation of Atractylodes chinensis and Atractylodes japonica.