Routine inspection of Chinese medicine is the priority task of Chinese medicine,which occupies an important position in the identification of Chinese medicine.Whether the results of routine inspection meet the national standards directly affects the conclusion of Chinese medicine research and the clinical effectiveness.Since 1953,Chinese Pharmacopoeia has been revised eleven times,and the methods and standards of routine inspection have tended to be complete,covering more and more diversified categories.According to Chinese Pharmacopoeia,routine inspection mainly included impurity inspection,moisture inspection,ash inspection,and extract inspection.This paper explored the four major items of routine inspection.Specifically,with historical versions of Chinese Pharmacopoeia as the main line,the historical development process of routine inspection was combed; with the 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia as the guideline,the content of the four major items was clarified,and the application significance of routine inspection was explained.In addition,by comparing with European Pharmacopoeia,US Pharmacopoeia,and Japanese Pharmacopoeia,this paper discussed the advantages and disadvantages of the inspection methods in China,proposed suggestions for improvement,optimized the content of routine inspection,and looked forward to its development,with a view to promoting the scientific development of routine inspection and drawing the attention of related research personnel to routine inspection.