A multi-strip ionization chamber has been built for precise and fast monitoring of the carbon beam spatial distribution at Heavy Ion Researched Facility of Lanzhou Cooling Storing Ring (HIRFL-CSR). All the detector's anode, cathode and sealed windows are made by 2 mu m aluminized Mylar film in order to minimize the beam lateral deflection. The sensitive area of the detector is (100 x 100) mm(2), with the anode segmented in 100 strips, and specialized front-end electronics has been developed for simplifying the data acquisition and quick feedback of the relevant parameters to beam control system. It can complete one single beam profile in 200 mu s. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved,