Surface pollen of 40 samples collected in the Emei Mountains in Sichuan Province, southwest China, are used to analyse the relationship between pollen assemblages and their vegetation. The results show that the arboreal pollen is 83.3%, and the main pollen taxa are Pinus, Taxodiaceae, Alnus, Rosaceae, Betula, Pterocarya, Artemisia, Ranunculaceae, and Polypodiaceae. Evergreen broadleaved pollen assemblages are not well associated with the numerical characteristics of vegetation community in the mid-mountain area. However, pollen assemblages of the evergreen broadleaf plants in the artificial and secondary forest across the low-mountain area and the deciduous-evergreen broadleaf mixed forest represent moderately their community compositions respectively. The coniferous pollen assemblages reflect strongly their community on the whole. Shrub-meadow pollen assemblages correspond well with their community, and pollen assemblages from coniferous-deciduous broadleaf mixed forest represent accurately their communities. Abies, Ericaceae, Rosaceae, Davidia, Acer, and Rhus are under-represented, whereas Pterocarya, Castanopsis/Lithocarpus, Alnus, and Taxodiaceae are over-represented pollen taxa. In addition, a Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) show that disturbed vegetation and broadleaved and coniferous forests can be effectively distinguished by pollen spectra. However, the evergreen broadleaved forest, deciduous-evergreen broadleaf mixed forest and the coniferous-deciduous broadleaf mixed forest, and the conifer and shrub-meadow are not accurately examined by the pollen spectra. The thin and broken outer walls of Lauraceae and Davidia pollen mean that these dominant species are missing when the pollen analysis results are used to reconstruct the tropical and subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forest (Lauraceae community) and the deciduous-evergreen broad-leaved forest (Davidia community). Furthermore, it is important to study experimental improvements and the preserved environment using other biological indicators (plant fossils and stomata) for attempting to reconstruct the palaeovegetation. The pollen content of some plants (such as Abies) can indicate its stand structure to a certain extent. This study provides theoretical support and basic data that can be used to reconstruct the palaeovegetation and palaeoenvironment. Pollen analysis can also be used to help restore other ecological systems in tropical and subtropical mountains and similar regions.