Abstract: In order to improve the quality of Castanopsis kawakamii seedlings and cultivate the high-quality seedlings of Castanopsis kawakamii, the effects of different cultivation substrates and seedling containers on the seedling emergence rate and seedling growth of Castanopsis kawakamii were studied. The seeds of Castanopsis kawakamii which were stored and after germination were selected as the research object. Then, the experiments were carried out by using different cultivation substrates of 70% mountain red soil+30% Chinese fir sawdust (A1), 100% forest topsoil (A2), 50% mountain red soil+50% coarse river sand (A3), and selecting different containers of non-woven nutrition bag (B1), plastic nutrition bowl (B2), and field seedbed (B3) as the control for the sowing of Castanopsis kawakamii. The results showed that:(1) The germination rates of Castanopsis kawakamii seeds treated with the three cultivation substrates (A1, A2 and A3) were all high, and the average germination rates of seeds were 92.8%, 92.0% and 91.7%, respectively. However, the seedling growth of Castanopsis kawakamii treated with the three different substrates was significantly different. The seedling growth of Castanopsis kawakamii treated with A1 was the highest, followed by A2, and was the lowest when treated with A3, among which, the average seedling height of Castanopsis kawakamii in the A1 treatment was 18.3 cm, the average ground diameter was 0.32 cm, the average length of main root was 26.0 cm, and the average number of lateral roots was 6.2. (2) The seedling emergence rate and seedling growth of Castanopsis kawakamii sown in the two kinds of containers of non-woven nutrition bag (B1) and plastic nutrition bowl (B2) were significantly different from that sown in the field seedbed (B3). The seedling emergence rate, seedling height, ground diameter and lateral root growth were the highest in the B1 treatment, with an average seedling emergence rate of 93.5%, average seedling height of 2.2 cm, average ground diameter of 0.32 cm and average number of lateral roots of 6.1, followed by the B2 treatment, and were the lowest in the B3 treatment. But the length of main root was the highest sown in the field seedbed, and the average length of main root was 36.7 cm. Therefore, it was a better substrate to select the 70% mountain red soil+30% Chinese fir sawdust (A1) for the sowing and seedling cultivation of Castanopsis kawakamii. Moreover, it was easy to obtain the materials, and the preparation was simple, which was easy to be popularized in the seedling production. While selecting the non-woven nutrition bag (B1) for the sowing and seedling breeding of Castanopsis kawakamii, it was easy to form many and developed lateral roots, which was more conducive to the growth of Castanopsis kawakamii seedlings, and the seedlings sown in the non-woven nutrition bag didn't need to remove the bag for afforestation, which was conducive to improve the survival rate of afforestation, and easy to be popularized in the forestry production.