Abstract: A decision tree based approach is proposed for obtaining the quantitative result of tone variation patterns in continuous Chinese speech. While constructing the decision tree, besides neighboring tone, many other possible factors are considered such as syllable position in the word and consonant/vowel type of the syllable, which are not studied in conventional analysis. After the tree is established, 28 different tone patterns and their corresponding model parameters are acquired. From the result it is found that many factors in addition to the tone of neighboring syllable affect tone pattern variation m continuous Chinese speech. Tone recognition experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach.