Abstract:The purposes of this paper are comparing the accuracies and differences between Chinese Standard Soil Color Charts (1989, abbreviated as Chinese Charts) and Japanese New Standard Soil Color Book (2014, abbreviated as Japanese Charts), and determining whether the latter can also be used to determine the color of Chinese soil. Firstly, the Munsell hues (H), value (V) and chroma (C) values of all the color chips of the two color charts were measured with the Japanese Konica Minolta CM-600d spectrophotometer, then the differences between the measured and the stated values were evaluated by using statistical parameters such as mean square error (MSE) and root mean square error (RMSE) with the help of a soil color difference grade standard (faint, distinct, prominent), and finally the sources of the measurement variation were examined by the generalized linear mixed model (GLMMs). The results showed that MSE and RMSE of the stated and measured values are shown in H as Japanese Charts slightly higher than Chinese Charts. In terms of V and C, Japanese Charts is far below Chinese Charts, which are 71.43%, 63.49% and 47.17% and 39.24%, respectively. For those color chips which are commonly used and have the same color hues in the two charts, 6 (only 2.07%) of the 290 color chips in Japanese Charts have distinct differences, while 27 (9.34%) of the 289 color chips in Chinese Charts have distinct differences, but there are no prominent differences between the two charts. The GLMMs statistical model showed a significant difference between the two charts (P< 0.000 1). Japanese Charts is more accurate in V and C than Chinese Charts, however, Chinese Charts has more colorful chips with Chinese characteristics and is more suitable for the identification need of Chinese soil color.