The effect of cultivation and management on changes of soil fertility was investigated with pointing sampling at different periods at small catchment scale combined with long-term field experiment in a low hilly red soil region in subtropical China.The key driving force for changes of soil fert ility was analyzed, and the correlation models were set up between the changes of soil nutrients and the nutrient balance of various land use systems.The results showed that changes of soil nutrient contents coincide with that for nutrient balances.Soil organic matter content decreased in wastelands and paddy fields; soil available P and K contents increased when changing the wasteland into upland but decreased into mixed-forest land; and soil nutrient contents trend to rising after changing into paddy field.The changes of soil total N and available K correlated significantly with the balance of N and K in slopping upland systems.However, correlation appeared unmarkedly between soil available P and P balance, which was caused possibly by excluding soil fixation and decomposit ion processes in the calculation of P balance.