Soil acidification commonly occurs in China and soils are particularly in high acidity in South China. The presentstudy aims to elucidate soil pH status in litchi orchards in South China and identify the suitable soil pH for litchi growth， providing support for soil pH amelioration in litchi orchards of China. 458 soil samples were collected in litchi orchards fromlitchi main producing areas includingGuangdong，Guangxi，Fujian，Hainan and Yunnan provinces. The pH values of thesesoil samples were determined insolutions(soil∶water = 1∶2.5)and then evaluated. A typical latosolic redsoil(pH 4.20) from a commercial litchi orchard in Guangdong province was used to simultaneously carry out a 120 d soil incubation and a300 d litchi cultureexperiment，respectively. Six soil pH treatments were assigned by addition of 0.5 g·kg -1sulfur and0.5，1，2 and 4 g·kg -1oflime，respectively. The soil without any amendment was included as the control. Effects of soil pH onsoilfertility，enzyme activity and growth of litchi seedling were investigated. Soil pH in 458 litchi orchards varied from 3.85to7.82，with the average value of 4.64. Litchiorchards，with soilpH<4.5，4.5～5.5，5.5～6.5，6.5～7.5and>7.5，accounted for45.7%，48.0%，5.0%，1.1% and 0.2% of the total sampled orchards，respectively. Litchi orchards inGuangxi province had the lowest average soil pH. During theincubation，soil pH in thecontrol，sulfur and0.5，1，2 and 4 g·kg-1lime treatments averaged as4.64，4.25，4.68，5.03，6.46 and7.58，respectively. Sulfur application increased soilavailableP，Ca，Mg，Cu and Zncontents，however，reduced acid phosphataseactivity(APA)and did not affect ureaseactivity(UA). Liming decreased soil alkali -hydrolyzableN，availableK，Zn and the activities of both soil enzymes，butenhanced soil availableP，Ca and Cu. Totally，soil alkali -hydrolyzableN，availableK，Mg，UA and APA significantlyand negatively correlated to soil pH within the pH range of 3.84～ 8.03 during theincubation，with the Pearson coefficients of -0.529，-0.850，-0.579，-0.458 and -0.872，respectively.However，significantly positive correlation wasobserved between soil availableP，Ca，Cu and soilpH，with the Pearson coefficients of 0.380 **，0.914** and 0.375，respectively. Soil availableZn，Fe and Mn were not closely related to soil pH. Liming at the rate of 1 g·kg -1 considerably promoted photosynthesis of litchi seedlings and enhanced leafnumber，area and stemgirth，leading to significantly increasedplant biomass increment and amplification at harvest，as compared to all the other treatments. It is preliminarily suggested that the suitable soil pH for litchi growth was 5.03±0.58. Litchi growth may be significantly inhibited in soils with pH lowerthan 4.64 or higher than 6.46. If 5.03 was accepted as the optimum soil pH level，soil pH in 62.0% of the total sampledorchards might significantly suppress litchi growth，and needed to be improved by 0.68 pH unit as average. This indicates that soil pH improvement in litchi orchards from South China is urgently needed.