A milestone in the Year of Biodiversity is that the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was adopted in the 10th Conference of Parties (COP 10) held in Nagoya, Japan, Oct 18–29, 2010. Traditional knowledge (TK) is a key issue in the Protocol's text and its negotiating period. This paper aimed to protect TK by defining its concepts and categories and promoting benefit—sharing with TK's holders. Based on the analysis for the TK concepts of relevant international organizations and conventions, in particularly on the author's current years' research work on TK in the ethnic areas of China, this paper proposes the categories and the classification system for the TK associated with biological resources, i.e. (i) the knowledge for traditional use of agricultural bio-species and genetic resources; (ii) the knowledge for traditional use of medicinal bio-species; (iii) traditional technical innovations for bio— resource use and traditional practices for farming and living styles; (iv) traditional cultures such as customary laws and community protocols that are related to conservation and sustainable use of bio—resources; and (v) traditional geographically biological indicators. Furthermore, this paper introduced the provisions for access and benefit—sharing of TK and proposed to share fairly and equitably the benefits produced from use of TK with indigenous people, local communities and other kinds of holders such as a country for the ancient documented TK. In addition, aimed to the existing problems for traditional knowledge protection, the national strategy for TK protection was introduced and measures for TK inheritance, development, utilization and protection measures were put forward, which are significant for TK's popularization and beneficial to local communities of the ethnic groups in China.