Abstract: OBJECTIVE To study the change of chemical compounds in Ziziphi spinosae semen (ZSS) caused by stir-frying by developing HPLC fingerprints of decoction samples of crude and parched ZSS， and to provide references for ZSS stir-frying processing optimization. METHODS Hypersil GOLD C₁₈ column (250 mm×4.6 mm， 5 μm) was used with 0.1% formic acid in water (v/v) - acetonitrile as the elution system in gradient elution mode. The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min and the detective wavelength was 280 nm. The fingerprints for decoctions of crude and parched ZSS to evaluate their qualities were performed by Traditional Chinese Medicine Fingerprint Similarity Evaluation System (2012A edition). Meanwhile， principal component analysis， as a method of pattern recognition， was applied to give an overall evaluation. RESULTS The common modes of HPLC fingerprint for crude and parched ZSS were set up. There were 10 common peaks in the fingerprints for the crude and 12 common peaks for the parched. CONCLUSION The combination of fingerprints and chemical pattern recognition is an effective method for the distinction between crude and parched ZSS， which will provide meaning references for quality evaluation and stir-frying processing optimization of ZSS.