Abstract: Planting Chinese fir with intercropping crops has a long tradition in south China. It has developed a specific cultural system for nearly 1000 years and accumulated a great sum of experience. This paper presents the ecological habits of Chinese fir and habitats under its forest, main species and structure of intercropping crops and their cropping measmes. Finally, the economic, ecological and social effects of the agroforestry are evaluated and existing problems are discussed.

Key words: riverine plain, farmland, planting pattern, runoff, nutrient loss