To investigate the effect of vegetation recovery on soil quality at hill slopes with purple soil in Hengyang, China, 4 typical sample plots with vegetation recovery chronosequencc, i.e. grassplot (GT) (2 a). frutex and grassplot (FG) (5-8 a), frutex (FX) (20-25 a). arbor and frutex (AF) (approximately equal to 50 a). with basically similar site conditions, were selected as test objects. The comprehensive index of soil quality was applied to investigate the changes of soil quality in the process of vegetation recovery. As vegetation recovery proceeded from GT to FG, FX and AF, soil quality impr...