As microscopic indicators are too important to be ignored in syndrome differentiation， it is urgent to integrate the microscopic indicators into the thinking process of traditional Chinese medicine （TCM）， and establish a microscopic syndrome differentiation system with TCM features.

Xiang

（象） thinking is the key in constructing the human life model in TCM， and the differentiation of syndromes reflects the thinking process from

wu xiang

（物象， visible phenomena， concerning symptom） to

yi xiang

（意象， imagenery， concerning syndrome）. It is believed that the use of microscopic indicators in modern medicine is to “break

xiang

” by building connections from the

wu xiang

to the essence of the disease （physical body）， while the use of microscopic indicators in TCM syndrome differentiation is to “establish

xiang”

following the

wu xiang

to

yi xiang

and

disease and syndrome （metaphysical reflection）. Therefore， it is proposed that microscopic indicators can be endowed with TCM connotations through analogism， and syndrome elements differentiation provides modern methodological tools for analogism and construction of microscopic syndrome differentiation system. Artificial intelligence technology and big data analysis can further optimize the results of analogism.