Flocculation of kaolin suspensions using ternary polymerization flocculant (CAS) synthesized by chitosan (CTS), acrylamide and ethyl acrylate quaternary ammonium salt was investigated in lab-scale. It was found that CAS had more advantages such as higher flocculation efficiency, lesser dosage and wider pH flocculation range than CTS. CAS was insignificantly exposed to the properties of suspended particles, so preferable flocculation efficiency by it could be obtained both with distilled water and tap water kaolin suspensions. The optimal dosage for CAS was only one-tenth of that of CTS in neutral condition. Good flocculation performance was observed in the pH range of 2.0-11.0 at the dosage of 0.5 mg x L(-1) CAS, and the turbidity removal rates were about 95%. It was also shown that flocculation efficiency was very sensitive to the raw turbidity of kaolin suspensions. At less than 0.5 mg x L(-1) of CAS dose, the higher raw turbidity of the suspension contrarily yielded a lower removing rate. However, when the dosage of CAS was more than 0.5 mg x L(-1), the flocculation efficiency increased with increasing the raw turbidity of kaolin. When the dosage was more than 1.0 mg x L(-1), turbidity removal efficiencies exceeding 85% could be achieved in overall experimental turbidities from 10 to 160 NTU. iPDA-100 device was used to follow the particle aggregation process. And also zeta potential values of particles,floc sizes, shape analyses were presented. It is presumed that the flocculation induced by CAS is dominated by charge patch mechanism and bond bridging. The flocculation reactivity of kaolin suspensions exhibits a dynamic changing, which is simultaneously responsible for several kinds of driving forces.