Abstract: To explore the community diversity and C, N, P stoichiometry characteristics and environmental adaptation strategies of subalpine-alpine meadow along a continuous altitude gradient, the naturally distributed upland subalpine-alpine meadow communities on the southern slope of Wutai Mountain were selected, 9 sites were sampled along with the altitude of 2201-3011 m, and correlation analysis and partial redundancy analysis (pRDA) were used to analyze the community diversity, C, N, P stoichiometry characteristics and their relationship to environmental factors. The results showed that the average Patrick index、Shannon-Wiener index、Simpson index、Pielou index were11, 2.15, 0.87, 0.93 respectively, within the altitude range of 2201-3011 m on the south slope of Wutai Mountain. With the altitude increasing, the Patrick index, Shannon-Wiener index, and Simpson index showed a significant downward trend, while the Pielou index did not change significantly. TC, TN and TP contents of the subalpine-alpine meadow community were 461.19, 23.32 and 1.96 mg·g^-1, and the average C:N, C:P, and N:P ratios of the subalpine-alpine meadow community were 19.99, 242.17 and 12.10. Compared to the results of global scale and grassland ecosystem regional scale, the subalpine-alpine meadow community was characterized by relatively stable TC, higher TN and TP, and lower N:P, and the lower N:P (N:P<14) at the community level suggest that the plant growth in subalpine-alpine meadow community was more restricted by N element. Along the altitude gradient, the TC content, C:N and C:P significantly increased while TN, TP contents significantly decreased with the increased elevation, and N:P did not change significantly. In addition, the C, N, P stoichiometry characteristics among the subalpine-alpine meadow communities had some differences, which to some extent indicates the different adaptation strategies of mountain meadow community to altitude habitats. The pRDA results showed that altitude was the most dominant factor affecting the variation of community diversity and C, N, P stoichiometry characteristics of subalpine-alpine community, and altitude was more important in explaining community diversity and C, N, P stoichiometry characteristics variation than soil. The research provided a reference for the protection and restoration of meadow vegetation resources in the subalpine-alpine mountainous areas of Northern China.