In order to understand the nutrient cycling and system stability mechanism of five typical forest ecosystems in subalpine of central Yunnan province, the characteristics of the typical forest leaf-litter-soil ecological stoichiometry were studied by measuring the contents of leaf, litter and soil C, N and P. The results showed that:(1) C, N and P contents of five forests were significantly different, among which the contents of C, N and P of leaf and litter were all higher than soil in each forest type. (2) The N and P resorption rates of five forest types were ranked as Pinus armandii forest > Pinus yunnanensis forest > Evergreen broad-leaf forest > Quercus semicarpifolia forest > Keteleeria evelyniana forest. The P (mean value of 61.20%) resorption rates of all forest types were higher than N (mean value of 36.48%), indicating the relative shortage of soil P in this region. (3) The C/N, C/P and N/P of five forest types presented in the order of litter > leaf > soil, and the N/P were ranged from 10.17 to 15.31. (4) The contents of C, N, P, C/N and C/P in the leaf of five forest types were significantly positively correlated with that of litter. There was a significantly positively correlation between litter and soil C, N contents and N/P. The contents of leaf N and P were significantly positively correlated, but the contents of soil N and P were significantly negatively correlated. This study explored the stoichiometric characteristics of nutrient elements between "leaf-litter-soil", which provided theoretical data for understanding the nutrient status of forest ecosystem in this region and revealing the biogeochemical cycling.