Plant Functional Types (PFTs) have been paid increasing attention last decades as the linkage between terrestrial ecosystem and climate change with the intensification of global climate change. PFTs are not only an effective tool to simplify the complexity of ecosystem, but also helpful when exploring the response and feedback mechanism of plant to the climate changes by introducing plant physiological, ecological process, biophysical characteristics and phenological change into the vegetation dynamic model. In order to investigate climate change and response to vegetation at regional scale, PFTs classification system was proposed under the "eco-physiognomy" principle based on plant characteristics (such as vegetative form, leaf traits), thermal characteristics and water availability, combined with the regional climate and geographical conditions in Shanxi. Furthermore, the spatial pattern of PFTs was discussed in this paper. The results showed that: (1) Nineteen PFTs, including four PFTs of cultivated crops were identified, namely, cold warm-temperate evergreen coniferous forest, warm-temperate evergreen coniferous forest, cold warm-temperate deciduous coniferous forest, warm-temperate deciduous broadleaf forest, cold warm-temperate deciduous shrub, warm-temperate deciduous shrub, perennial grass steppe, perennial grass community, perennial grass meadow, perennial sedge meadow, perennial forbs steppe, perennial forbs community, perennial forbs meadow, annual forbs meadow, perennial Legume steppe, fruit tree, one crop per annual, two crop per annual, and three crop two annual. The classification and distribution of plant functional types reflect the inherent characteristics and demand for water and thermal of plants, being consistent with vegetation regionalization of Shanxi Province. (2) Crops are dominant in Shanxi, accounting for 53.15% of the total vegetation type area. Forest and shrubs types are dominated by warm-temperate evergreen coniferous forest, warm-temperate deciduous broadleaf forest and warm deciduous shrubs, respectively. Perennial grass community occupies a large proportion, accounting for 50.98% of the total area of the herbaceous types. (3) PFTs (except for crop cultivation) show bigger difference in different regions due to hydrothermal and geographical conditions. For example, perennial forbs steppe mainly distributed in north Shanxi, rather than in the south Shanxi. Compared with north Shanxi, the functional types of forest mainly distributed in the central and south Shanxi, and its structure and types were complex and diverse. (4) The cultivation crops show good integrity and connectivity, while the other PFTs show the fragmentation and discretization. (5) PFTs of Shanxi show integrally high diversity. Compared with the other two parts, more fragmentation and higher diversity are found in the central Shanxi. One crop per annual mainly distributed in North Shanxi, while south Shanxi did not exhibit significant fragmentation and dominance.