Abstract: Saussurea meduasa Maxim,a typical alpine snowline plant collected from a 4150 m altitude site on Qinghai Plateau, is freeze tolerant. The induction of callus and the culturing of cell suspension for this alpine plant were successful and the freeze tolerance was analyzed in this research. The research results showed that the calli and cell suspension cultures can tolerate -6.5 ℃ and -7.5 ℃ respectively. Rich content in proteins and starch in cells of Saussurea meduasa Maxim might contribute to the high freezing tolerance of callus .Cold acclimation can increase the freezing tolerance of calli and cell suspension cultures. After cold acclimation,new polypeptides (76，48，27.5，19.5 kD) and the e nhanced synthesis of 33 and 51 kD peptides were identified on SDS_PAGE in cell suspension culture medium .Our research results suggested that the development of freezing hardiness of calli and cell suspension cultures was consistent with the enhancement of protein synthesis in Saussurea meduasa Maxim under cold acclimation.