[Objective] In order to explore magnetic characteristics of the yellow-red soil in the subtropical region and transformation of the magnetic minerals in the soil under relatively humid and cold climate conditions, the author selected a profile of yellow-red soil (Profile ZN) derived from granite weathering crust in Zhouning County, northeast of Fujian Province. Under a mid-subtropical monsoon mountain climate, this area had an average annual temperature of 15℃, an average annual rainfall of 2 049.3 mm, and an elevation of 906.4 m counted from the bottom of the profile. The profile was about 1.9 m thick. With the floating soil on the surface removed, a total of 20 samples were collected at 10 cm intervals from the soil and weathering crust layers of the profile.[Method] In this study, room temperature magnetic parameters of the samples were measured, and thermomagnetic analysis conducted of representative samples, in combination of chroma, major geochemical elements and diffuse reflectance spectrum analyses.[Result] Results show:The profile was low in magnetic susceptibility, and relatively low in content of magnetic minerals, the upper part of the profile contained relatively more superparamagnetic particles, while the lower part did relatively more multi-domain particles. a^*, b^* and Ca^*b^* varied in the same trend, being the highest in Horizon B and the lowest in Horizon C, while b^*/a^* was high in the profile surface. The content of Fe₂O₃ increased with the degree of pedogenesis, indicating that during the soil forming process, other elements were leached while iron accumulated relatively. Iron content was not a major factor limiting magnitude of magnetic susceptibility. The profile was lower than those in the humid and hot low altitude tropical and subtropical regions in CIA (chemical index of alteration).[Conclusion] By comparing this profile with the three (NPN, PC-GL, PC-SY) in the adjacent area, the following conclusions were drawn:(1) Profile ZN contains relatively less magnetic minerals, which are composed of mainly ferrimagnetic mineral and small portions of maghemite, antiferromagnetic minerals hematite and goethite as well as paramagnetic minerals. Moreover, its content of goethite is higher than that of hematite. The magnetic particles in the lower part of the profile are coarser, and mainly multi-domain particles. And the particles get finer, and the portions of single-domain and superparamagnetic particles increase with decreasing soil depth. (2) Parent material and climatic conditions are two important factors contributing to the difference in magnetic characteristics between different profiles, and the climate conditions are the main ones controlling the content of secondary magnetic minerals (especially hematite and goethite). Chroma index b^*/a^* can be used to measure the content of goethite/hematite. (3) Under a relatively humid and cold climate the transformation of magnetic minerals in the soil is dominated by the transformation of strong magnetic minerals (magnetite and maghemite) into weak magnetic minerals (hematite and goethite). (4) Temperature, instead of precipitation, is the dominant factor influencing the content and relative proportion of goethite and hematite in the soil derived from granite weathering crust in humid subtropical regions.