A new high-capacity imidazole type chelating resin was synthesized via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization（SI-ATRP) method.1-Vinylimidazole（VIM) was grafted onto the surface of the chloromethyl polystyrene resin by SI-ATRP using organic metal compound formed in the CuBr/2,2’-bipyridine（Bpy) system as catalyst at room temperature.The chelating resin was characterized by means of isoelectronic X ray spectrum,elementary analysis and electron microscopy，and its adsorption properties,parameters of kinetics and thermodynamics were determined.The amount of VIM on the surface of polystyrene resin was calculated to be 1.008 mg/m2.Adsorption capacity for cadmium（Ⅱ) and zinc（Ⅱ) increased with increasing initial metal ion concentration and temperature，and its highest values were 653.1 mg/g for cadmium（Ⅱ) at pH 3.6 and 793.3 mg/g for zinc（Ⅱ) at pH 2.4.The experimental results showed that the equilibrium adsorption data fitted well to both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms.The thermodynamic equilibrium functions were also determined as follows:ΔG<0，ΔH=24.47 kJ/mol，ΔS>0，so the adsorption was spontaneous，endothermic and entropy increasing.The kinetic experimental data were correlated with second-order kinetic model.