Abstract: An experiment was carried out to evaluate the drought resistance of hybrid zoysiagrass ‘Suzhi No.1’, compared with Zoysia japonica ‘Lanyin No.3’ as the control. Plant materials were cultured in sand in PVC tubes in a greenhouse and drought treatments were implemented by withholding water. Leaf wilting (LW), leaf relative water content (RWC), root electrolyte leakage (REL), soil water content (SWC), root growth characteristics including root dry weight (RDW) and specific root length (SRL), as well as maximum quantum yield of PSⅡ (F_v/F_m) were measured under drought stress. The drought resistance of ‘Suzhi No.1’ was initially evaluated based on LW, RWC, REL and SWC. Both cultivars showed gradual increases in LW, exhibiting slight wilting on the 12th day of drought stress, moderate wilting on the 29th day and severe wilting after 40 days. SWC values decreased gradually with both cultivars displaying similar trends during the stress period. Drought stress also caused significant declines in RWC and rises in REL. By the end of the treatment (40th day), no differences in LW, RWC, REL and SWC were found indicating that the performance of ‘Suzhi No.1’ was similar to ‘Lanyin No.3’ under drought stress. Although ‘Suzhi No.1’ had smaller RDW to ‘Lanyin No.3’, it also had larger SRL and could keep higher F_v/F_m values in the middle of the stress period, potentially an important drought resistance mechanism. With relatively denser roots and higher photochemical efficiency, it is probable that ‘Suzhi No.1’ was able to offset the adverse effects of smaller root biomass. In summary, ‘Suzhi No.1’ and ‘Lanyin No.3’ had similar drought resistance but with different resistant mechanisms.