The fundamental principle of the “Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Genome Project” is to carry out genomic studies from the molecular level to discover effective functional genes in medicinal plants which may be cloned and expressed in factories or to transfer into plants for field cultivation Another approach is to carry out research studies to obtain enzymic genes capable of synthesizing bioactive compounds to be replicated in laboratory metabolic engineering processes The subject matter of “TCM Genome Project” and its significance for the modernization of TCM were expounded