Combined the homology-based cloning and rapid-amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) method, the complete cDNA sequence of the heat shock cognate 70 gene was obtained. The semi-quantitative RT–PCR was used to detect the gene expression in 10 tissues of Chinese giant salamander. The results showed that the full-length cDNA of heat shock cognate 70 gene was 2 284 bp(GenBank accession number HM998289), which contained 87 bp 3′–untranslated region and 253 bp 5′–untranslated region. The open reading frame (ORF), encoded 647 amino acids was 1 944 bp in length. The sequence similarity of nucleocides is 83.5% with other species, but the amino acid is conserved relatively, which showed similarity of 94% with Ambystoma mexicatnum. The phylogeny genetic analysis was constructed based on the amino acid of heat shock cognate 70 gene. The results showed the hsc70 gene of Chinese giant salamander clustered with other amphibians firstly. And it indicated the gene evolution is corresponding with their status of the species origin. According to the analysis of semi-quantitative RT–PCR, although high expression of this gene could detect in 10 tissues, there is different expression quantity among them. The expression in kidney, brain, lung, skin, liver, stomach and spleen is relatively high, followed by heart, and the expression in muscle and pituitarium was low.