Our objective was to explore the effects of precipitation variations on soil respiration and its temperature sensitivity in an evergreen broad-leaved forest during the dry and wet seasons in western China affected by monsoons. Six treatments: CK (a control), LA (low water addition), TA (trace water addition), LR (low water reduction), MR (medium water reduction), and HR (high water reduction) were established in an evergreen broad-leaved forest. The LI-8100 (LI-COR Inc., USA) Automated Soil CO₂ Flux System was used to measure soil respiration rates during the dry (December 2013 to February 2014) and wet (July to September 2014) seasons of the evergreen broad-leaved forest. The results were as follows: the soil respiration rate was higher in the wet than dry season. HR treatment had a greater impact on the soil respiration rate during the dry season, similarly to LA in the wet season. LR and TA treatments increased the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration, whereas LA, MR, and HR decreased the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration, and the Q₁₀ value was higher in the wet than in the dry season. HR, MR, and LA treatments decreased the carbon and nitrogen contents in soil microbial biomass, and LR and TA increased the contents of soil microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen. The contents of carbon and nitrogen in microbial biomass in different treatments were significantly higher in the wet than in the dry season. Compared with the wet season, in the dry season, soil moisture had a greater impact on the soil respiration rate; and compared with soil temperature, soil moisture had little effect on the soil respiration rate. Considering that the amount of precipitation varies, appropriate water addition and reduction could promote the soil respiration rate, whereas higher amounts of water addition and reduction could inhibit the soil respiration rate during the dry and wet seasons, respectively, of the evergreen broad-leaved forest in western China.