Examining the relationships between functional traits of plant communities and their responses to environmental changes can effectively reveal the trade-off patterns of plant functional traits and their adaptation strategies to the environment. The Qamdo region is located in the northwest of the Hengduan Mountains in eastern Tibet. The complex climate and topography have fostered an abundance of plant resources. It is the main component of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau forest and shrub ecosystem and a hot spot for international biodiversity conservation. Based on a large number of field investigations, we tested the correlation between plant functional traits, the variation of functional traits with environmental variables, and the sources of variation in functional traits of the dominant woody plants in the forest and shrub community of eastern Tibet using correlation analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), linear regression, and variance analysis. The results showed that:(1) The woody plants in eastern Tibet exhibited a trade-off pattern of adaptation to the high cold environment, characterized by a small specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf volume (LV), a high leaf dry matter content (LDMC), and a synergetic variation between leaf phosphorus content (LNC) and leaf potassium content (LKC). (2) Elevation and climate variables are the primary drivers of variation in functional traits of woody plants in eastern Tibet, and woody plants in eastern Tibet tend to adopt a conservative adaptation strategy of "high input-slow return" to improve their cold resistance. (3) Elevation is the most significant environmental variable influencing the variation of plant functional traits in eastern Tibet. The interspecific variation explains the majority of the total variation in functional traits with the environment in eastern Tibet. The results of this study reveal the trade-off patterns of functional traits of woody plants in eastern Tibet and their adaptation strategies to the high cold environment, which contributes to a better understanding of the distribution pattern and ecological function of natural plant resources in eastern Tibet, and provides a scientific basis for regional ecosystem functional and biodiversity protection.