Objective To analyze the prescription rules of Chinese medicine for ulcerative colitis（ UC） based on literature. Methods The clinical research literature on Chinese medicine and integrative medicine for UC from Jan 1993 to Dec 2012 were searched in China National Knowledge Internet（ CNKI） and the information on medications was extracted. A database was established in Excel 2007 and the data was analyzed with SPSS18. 0 software. Results Totally 186 articles were included. There were 188 kinds of oral medicines with a frequency of 2666 and 150 kinds of enemas with a frequency of 1196. The commonly used oral medicines were deficiency-supplementing medicinal

heat-clearing medicinal

qi-rectifying medicinal

astringing medicinal

blood-stanching medicinal or water-disinhibiting damp-percolating medicinal

with a cumulative frequency of 74. 33%. The common flavors of medicinal were bitter

sweet

acrid

sour or astringent

with a cumulative frequency of 95. 75%. The common nature of medicinal was warm

cold or balanced

with a cumulative frequency of 90. 85%. The common channel-entries were spleen channel

stomach channel

lung channel

liver channel or large intestine channel

with a cumulative frequency of 74. 63%. The commonly used enemas were heat-clearing medicinal

blood-stanching medicinal

deficiency-supplementing medicinal

astringing medicinal or blood-quickening medicinal

with a cumulative frequency of 80. 63%. The common flavors of medicinals in enemas were bitter

sweet

astringent

acrid or sour

with a cumulative frequency of 97. 06%. The common nature of medicinals in enemas were cold

warm or balanced

with a cumulative frequency of 94. 73%. The common channel-entries in enemas were liver channel

stomach channel

large intestine channel

spleen channel or lung channel

with a cumulative frequency of 74. 75%. Conclusion The commonly used Chinese medicines for UC are warm

cold or balanced in nature

bitter or sweet in flavor and spleen channel

stomach channel

lung channel

liver channel or large intestine channel in channel entry. The commonly used oral medicines are deficiency-supplementing medicinal

heat-clearing medicinal or qi-rectifying medicinal. The commonly used enemas are heat-clearing dampness-disinhibiting medicinal or blood-harmonizing and stanching medicinal.