Objective: To study the physical and chemical properties of an arginine ester hydrolase from the venom of Trimeresurus mucrosqumatus in Hunan province of China. Methods :The arginine ester hydrolase (AEH) was isolated from the venom of Chinese Trimeresurus mucrosqumatus by a combination of ionexchange chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A-50, CM-Sepharose Cl-6B and gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. Results: The purified protein named TM-AEH,a glycoprotein with carbohydrate content of 0.5 % neutral hexose and 0. 75 % sialic acid,a relative molecular mass of 29.0 kDa,and an isoelectric point (pI) of 5. 2. It shares with an extinction coefficient (E0.1%/cm) of 1.332 at 280 nm,consisted of 225 amino acid residues ,and migrated as a band under reduced or non-reduced condition in basic PAGE. TM-AEH was a highly thermostable protein and was stable to pH changes between 5 and 9. The optimum temperature and optimum pH were 55℃ and 8. 4 for its catalytic activity respectively,which was inhibited by Fe3+ and Cu2+. Conclusion:This protein can exhibit higher BAEE-hydrolysing activity and fibrinogenolytic activity as compared to that of whole venom.