Abstract: A comparative study was made on the needle morphological characteristics, photosynthetic rate, and chlorophyll fast fluorescence induction curves of five representative Pinus species P. parvifiora, P. armandii, P. bungeana, P. tabuliformis, and P. densiflora. Significant differences were observed in the needle morphological characteristics among the five species. P. tabuliformis had the longest needle length and highest needle density, whereasP. bungeana had the highest chlorophyll content. P. densiflora and P. parvifiora had the maximum and minimum photosynthetic rate, respectively. There was a positive correlation between the photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance across the five species. The differences in the chlorophyll fast fluorescence induction curves of the five species were mainly manifested in J-step and I-step. Although the five species had similar values of F_v/F_m,F_v/F_o and T_fm, P. parvifiora had significantly higher values of dV/dt_o, dVG/dt_o, V_j and V_i, but lower energy flux ratio ψ_o, φ_Eoand φ_Ro,  compared with the other four species. The low PSII activity and efficiency of P. parvifiora might relate to its smallest S_m,S_m/T_fm and N.P.  densiflora and P. parvifiora had the maximum and minimum vitality indices PI_{(ABS/CSo/CSm)} and DF, respectively, and there existed significant positive correlations between the PI_(CSo) and PI_(CSm) and the net photosynthetic rate of the five species, suggesting that PI_(CSo) and PI_(CSm) could be used to estimate the photosynthetic activity of Pinus trees.