Objective To better understand students' professional perception,humanistic education status quo and their preference to different humanistic education methods.Methods Questionnaire was conducted for 990 undergraduate students (2006 grade- 2010 grade) at medical school of Shanghai Jiao Tong university.SPSS 17.0 statistical software was used to analyze results of the questionnaire.Results Nearly 45％ students chose to major in clinical medicine out of personal interest.The identification of students for humanistic quality was lower than that for clinical knowledge and skills.More than 50％ students believed doctors were with high humanistic quality and there was a gap between students′ action and their understanding of the medical career identity and medical humanistic cultivation.More than 50％ students preferred activities that train medical and auxiliary skills.Nearly 67％ students also showed a shallow reading habit from regular internet surfing.Conclusion The professional perception of medical students are influenced by both social and historical factors influence.The gap between understanding and action is a consequence of current humanistic educational system.The humanistic educational methodology should conform to the psychological and s~ial characteristics of contemporary students.