The rapid development of industrialization, urban-rural integration and agricultural activities are raising pollutions in China, especially pollutants of heavy metals in farmland soil. Effect of heavy metal pollutants on soil arthropods was an important part of their risk assessment and environmental impact monitoring. Based on the methods of National Soil Environmental Quality Standard of China (GB 15618-1995), Cd (0.3 mg/kg and 0.6 mg/kg), Pb (125 mg/kg and 250 mg/kg) and As (30 mg/kg and 60 mg/kg) were added to upland of red soil respectively, to evaluate their effects on the composition and diversity of soil microarthropods under field conditions. Eleven taxonomic groups of soil microarthropods were observed and Folsomia, Onychiurus and Acarina were the dominant groups, accounting for up to 78% of the total soil microarthropods obtained. Pb and As pollution in high concentration levels significantly decreased the abundance of Collembola by 73.5%, 55.2% respectively, and Cd pollution in high concentration levels did not have significant effects on Collembola. As and Cd pollution in high concentration levels significantly decreased the abundance of Acarina by 74.3%, 36.4% respectively, and Pb pollution in high concentration levels did not have significant effects on Acarina. However, Pb, As and Cd showed no significant influences on soil biodiversity, as estimated by the Shannon and Simpson indices. Therefore, the biodiversity was less sensitive to heavy metal pollution than the abundance of soil invertebrates under field conditions. The results of the Principal Component Analysis suggested that the values of Folsomia, Onychiurus and Prostigmata were higher in the comprehensive principal component, indicating they were the dominant factors of the soil microarthropoda community, and could act as one of the indicator species to monitor the environmental impacts of heavy metal pollution as well as the important ecological receptors for studying the threshold of heavy metal pollution in the future.