Dicranopteris dichotoma, Paspalum wetsfeteini, Liquidambar formosanaand Schima superba are four typical species of plants used for soil and water conservation in a rare earth mining area in South China, and were selected as subjects in this study to investigate changes in contents of various forms of nitrogen and organic carbon and pH in the rhizospheres of the plants and in the bulk soil as well. Results show that on average, total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen was 79.7%, 34.2% and 30.7%, respectively, higher in the rhizosphere soil than in the bulk soil; soil organic carbon was 164.9% higher and soil pH was 0.13 unit lower. The difference between the rhizosphere soil and the bulk soil was quite obvious except in soil pH. The content of total nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen and organic carbon was higher in the rhizosphere soil, regardless of plant type, than in the bulk soil. The soil pH in the rhizosphere soil of Paspalum wetsfeteini was higher than that in the bulk soil, but no significant difference was found between soil pH in the rhizosphere and bulk soil of Dicranopteris dichotoma, Liquidambar formosanas and Schima superbas. Soil total nitrogen was positively related to organic carbon both in the rhizosphere soil and the bulk soil, but neither to ammonium nitrogen nor to nitrate nitrogen. All the findings in this study indicate that the all the four types of plants in the rare earth mining area have strong sequestration effects on both carbon and nitrogen, and can be used as main pioneer plants to restore vegetation and ecology of the rare earth mining areas in South China.