Objective To evaluate the application outcomes of the case-guided teaching in experimental Chinese medicine curriculum. Methods Totally 48 full-time seven-year medical graduates of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) participated in this curriculum reform. Case-guided teaching was adopted in experimental Chinese medicine curriculum, and a questionnaire survey on acceptability to this model and the specific case content was carried out at the end of the course. Results All students accepted this teaching model. Most of the students were impressed with 20 cases and believed that the cases was beneficial to the understanding of the knowledge point, helped students to understand ideas and methods of TCM experimental research, and enhanced their awareness of the importance of experimental research in TCM. Further investigations showed that the students were mostly impressed on artemisinin cases, paper tearing experiments in class and four diagnosis workstations. Focus on cases involving detailed experimental methods and techniques in future were expected. Conclusions Applying the case-guided teaching in experimental Chinese medicine ourriculum is universally accepted by students and the expected goal is achieved.