Growth and morphology of young seedling of Cinnamomum camphora and Bothrocaryum controversum, two familiar species in Three Gorges reservoir region, in relation to three light regimes (open land, gap and understory) was investigated. We measured relative indices of the young seedlings in three light regimes which had grown for two years. The results showed as follows: In open land, the seedlings of C. camphora and B. controversum demonstrated that the absolute growth(main stem height , collar diameter , shoot biomass , root biomass , and total biomass) was higher than that in gap or understory ,while that of the seedlings in open land was significantly higher than that in understory (p<0.05).In respect of morphological characteristics, the root and shoot ratio of the seedlings of C. camphora were not significantly different in three light regimes(p>0.05), but that of the seedling of B. controversum in open land was significantly higher than that in gap or understory (p<0.05), which demonstrated that the seedlings of B. controversum in open land suffered photoinhibition to a certain extent. When the PPFD decreased , the slenderness coefficient and the leaf area ratio of the two species increased , while the total leaf area and the number of leaves decreased . The net assimilation rate and the relative growth rate of the two species both demonstrated that the seedlings in open land or gap were significantly higher than that in understory (p<0.05), however ,the net assimilation rate and the relative growth rate between the two species demonstrated no significant differences at any light regime(p>0.05). These results indicated that the seedlings of C. camphora and B. controversum in open land accumulate the most biomass, and some suitable shelter can keep the seedlings from photoinhibition, which makes seedlings grow quickly.