Field investigations and lab experiments were carried out to study characteristics of soil total organic carbon (TOC), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) in reserve of Liaohe River. Three soil types (including meadow soil, moisture soil and boggy soil) and four land use patterns (including cropland, paddy land, forestland and grassland) were included in this study. Significant differences in TOC, DOC and MBC concentrations were observed among different land use patterns (P<0.05). The average concentrations of TOC and MBC were much higher in the cropland and paddy land than those in forestland and grassland. However, the DOC was the highest in the grassland among all land uses. In the meadow soil, the average concentrations of TOC, DOC and MBC presented a gradual reduction trend with depth increase. According to Pearson correlation analysis, the concentrations of TOC showed a significant positive relationship with that of MBC (P＜0.01), while there were no significant correlation among TOC, MBC and DOC. The results showed that land use change could significantly affect the quantity and quality of soil carbon pools in this research zone.