Anthropogenic land use change alters the equilibrium among soil carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) in the forest ecosystem, likely affecting the biogeochemical cycles. In this study, conducted in northeastern China, we measured C, N, and P contents along soil profiles in adjacent sapling stands identical in age (10 years) and primary vegetation, but differing in land use type. Land use types included naturally regenerated stands without soil disturbance (NS), moderately disturbed stands (two-year interplanting of soybean after artificial reforestation, MS), and severely disturbed stands (natural reforestation after planting Panax ginseng for 10 years, SS). Our objective was to examine the effects of land use change on soil C, N, and P contents and their stoichiometry. Our results showed that:(1) Land use change significantly altered both top- and sub-soil C contents, which descended in the order NS >MS >SS for each soil horizon. However, land use markedly influenced only top-soil N contents and did not significantly influence P content along the entire soil profile (P > 0.05). These results suggest differing sensitivities of elements to land use change. (2) The C/N and C/P ratios among the three land use types were lowest for SS and differed between NS and MS depending on the soil horizon. Vertical patterns of C/N and C/P ratios differed among land use types, but N/P ratio was consistently constrained by land use change. N/P ratios descended in the order NS >MS >SS within each soil horizon and decreased with soil depth (P < 0.05), suggesting that N/P may be a better ecological indicator of response to land use change than C/N and C/P. (3) Land use change significantly affected coupled relationships between C-N, C-P, and N-P. Soil C and N contents were linearly correlated (P < 0.001), regardless of the land use type, with a common slope of 11.1 but significantly different intercepts (P < 0.001). This result, together with the synthesis of published local and global datasets, reflects a large-scale general C-N relationship and a small-scale heterogeneous response of C-N stoichiometry to local land use change.