To explore short-term effects of acid rain on soil respiration in three zonal evergreen broadleaf tree sapling-soil systems, i.e. Paramecia latungensis (PL), Cyclobalanopsis glauca (CG) and Elaeocarpus glabripetalus (EG), typical of Zhejiang Province, where acid rain pollution has been severe for a long time, showers of acid rain different in pH (2.5, 4.0 and 5.6 separately) were simulated. Soil carbon effluxes (E) of the three sapling stands were monitored in various growing seasons. (1) When the stands were stressed by severe acid rain (pH 2.5), E decreased significantly in all seasons in the PL stand; dropped in winter but rose in spring and summer in the CG stand compared to the control, and varied sharply only in winter in the EG stand. the effect of acid rain moderate in pH (4.0) was significant in the PL stand where E was lower than the control in all the two years except for in August 2007, when E was 25.3% higher than the control; in the CG stand, E dropped well below the control in December 2006 and rose up to 1.96 μmol m^-2 s^-1 in August 2007; and in the EG stand, E decreased by 18.0% only in November 2007. (2) the effect of acid rain on E was not significant in the PL and EG stands at the growing period-time scale. Although in the CG stand, E increased by 87.8% and 11.1% respectively, by exposure to severe acid rain and moderate acid rain, only the effect of severe acid rain was significant. (3) The leading factors affecting soil respiration were soil temperature and acid rain in the PL and CG stands; soil temperature in the EG stand; and acid rain in the CG stand, where a negative relationship of E with pH of acid rain was observed.