Abstract:RAPD markers were applied to analyze the genetic divergence of five populations of butterfly cabbage white (Pieris rapae) in Shanxi, China. The populations were sampled from vegetable farms at five representative basin areas from north to south of Shanxi, i.e. Youyu in Datong Basin, Daixian in Xinding Basin, Taiyuan in Taiyuan Basin, Zhangzi in Shangdang Basin, and Xiaxian in Yuncheng Basin. Genomic DNA of seventy\|five individuals were extracted from leg muscle using Phenol\|Chloroform method and then amplified using 12 pre\|determined random primers (10 bp) which generated a total of 143 clear and reproducible bands. In terms of the number of polymorohic loci, the rank is as follows: Datong′ (76.3%) > Taiyuan′ (74.7%) > Changzhi′ (74.5%) > Daixian′ (73.7%) > Xiaxian′(70.7%). The analysis of Shannon′s Index showed moderate polymorphism among the populations (Hsp = 3.9507; Hpop =2.9001). The dendograms based on Nei′s genetic distance using UPGMA and Neighbor\|Joining showed high genetic similarity among the five populations. It is noted that Daixian population was closer with Xiaxian population in spite of large geographic distance. Considering the populations were from geographically distant basins the cluster analysis did not show distinct correlation trend between geographic and genetic distance, suggesting the likely gene flow among the populations. Moreover the frequent use of pesticides in farms may have also imposed pressure of artificial selection on the populations to evolve to a more uniform pattern in Shanxi Province.