Abstract: There is an increased understanding of the role of fire in population dynamics, plant community structure and succession. However, few studies have examined the mechanism of the effect of fire on plant community structure and offspring recruitment. This study explored the short term responses of perennial grassland vegetation and offspring recruitment following fire on the Loess Plateau. The results showed that fire significantly reduced total cover, species diversity, litter thickness and litter biomass, and significantly increased community density; however it did not alter species richness. Fire exerted important effects on plant community structure and species composition in the short-term. Fire significantly increased asexual recruitment by clonal ramification, but had no effect on sexual recruitment through increased seedling numbers. Burnt grassland had a significantly higher density in tiller and rhizome offspring recruitment number than the unburnt grassland, however, recruitment from root suckers, branches and stolons did not differ significantly between the treatments. Our results indicate that asexual recruitment contributed more to vegetation regeneration of the perennial-steppe community than seedling recruitment. Lack of sexual recruitment is not related to fire management but to species composition.