Rainfall redistribution is an important hydrological process in forest ecosystems. The partitioning of gross rainfall into throughfall, stemflow and interception in the Vernicia fordii forest was studied from July 2004 to September 2005 at the Ecological Benefit Monitoring Station of the Yangtze River Protection Forest in Cili County, Hunan Province. During the measurement period, throughfall, stemflow and interception expressed percentage of gross rainfall in the V.fordii forest were 75.6%±8.6%, 3.6%±1.1% and 20.8%±9.1% respectively. Rainfall redistribution in V.fordii was closely related with rainfall depth or rainfall intensity. As rainfall increased, throughfall, stemflow and interception (mm) increased. However, stemflow and interception stabilized at the larger rainfall depth. As rainfall intensity increased, throughfall percentage (%) increased, while stemflow percentage (%) and interception percentage (%) decreased. Differences in throughfall (%) were significant among different rainfall classes. However, no significant difference was found in stemflow between different rainfall classes. Water input below the canopy had clearly spatial heterogeneity. Throughfall differed significantly (p<0.05) among different sampling sites and throughfall percentage close to the tree was significantly lower than those under the peripheral part. The spatial variation in throughfall (i.e., CV of throughfall percentage) decreased with increasing rainfall depth or rainfall intensity. Stemflow in V.fordii can obviously concentrate water into a small area around the tree trunk, which was 20-70 times higher than rainfall depth during the same period. With increasing rainfall, the funneling ratio (FR) showed the tendency of a first increase and consequent decrease. Stemflow amount (cm³•mm^-1) in V.fordii showed significantly positive correlation with structural characteristics of the forest such as diameter at breast height, tree height and crown area. No significant correlation was found between stemflow and height from the base to the first branch.