A Gram-stain-positive bacterial strain, ZW163(T), isolated from suancai, a traditional pickle of Heilongjiang province in China, was characterized by a polyphasic approach, including phenotypic characterization, sequence analyses of the 16S rRNA gene and two housekeeping genes (pheS and rpoA), whole genome sequencing and cellular fatty acid composition. Strain ZW163(T) was phylogenetically related to Lactobacillus sharpeae, Lactobacillus songhuajiangensis, Lactobacillus pantheris and Lactobacillus thailandensis, having 93.8-98.7 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities, 76.5-87.1 % pheS gene sequence similarities and 74.3-95.7 % rpoA gene sequence similarities to the type strains of L. sharpeae, L. songhuajiangensis, L. pantheris and L. thailandensis, respectively. Average nucleotide identity and in silico DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain ZW163(T) and the type strains of L. sharpeae, L. songhuajiangensis, L. pantheris and L. thailandensis were less than 77.7 % and 23.6 % respectively. Based upon the data obtained in the present study, a novel species, Lactobacillus hulanensis sp. nov., is proposed and the type strain is ZW163(T) (=NCIMB 15193(T)=CCM 8926(T)=CCTCC AB 2019015(T)).