OBJECTIVE To study the quality grade stand ard of the premature Forsythia suspensa . METHODS A total of 138 batches of premature F. suspensa were collected from the main producing areas of F. suspensa in China. According to 2020 edition of Chinese Pharmacopoeia ，the contents of impurities ，moisture，ethanol-soluble extract ，volatile oil ，forsythin and forsythoside A in the premature F. suspense were determined ，and the qualified samples were screened. AHP-PCA mixed weighting method was used to give comprehensive weight to the indicators （except for the limit of impurity ）. The comprehensive score of the samples was calculated. The suggestions on the quality grade division of premature F. suspensa were put forward according to cluster analysis of K-mean value. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS The contents of impurities ，moisture，ethanol-soluble extract ，volatile oil ，forsythin and forsythoside A in the premature F. suspense were 0-7.80％，1.60％-8.18％，13.13％-61.60％，0.21％-3.47％，0.02％-2.15％ and 0.79％-14.04％，respectively；average contents of them were 1.24％，4.97％，34.88％，2.01％，0.42％，6.86％，respectively. Totally 47 batches of 138 batches were qualified in all indexes. It is suggested that the quality grade of the premature F. suspense can be divided into three grades ：in first grade of F. suspense ，the contents of volatile oil ，forsythin，forsythoside A ， ethanol-soluble extract and moisture were ≥2.40％，≥0.59％，≥8.34％，≥38.66％ and ≤4.99％，respectively；in second grade of F. suspense ，the contents of above indicators were ≥2.26％，≥0.41％，≥7.47％，≥32.58％ and ≤5.33％，respectively；in third grade of F. suspense ，the contents of above indicators were ≥2.15％，≥0.32％，≥4.60％，≥31.52％ and≤7.23％，respectively.