Abstract: The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is susceptible to climate change and anthropogenic perturbation, due to its fragile ecosystems which play a vital role in mediating future global carbon cycling. To enhance our understanding of the carbon cycling of alpine grassland on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, green-house gases emissions, changes of soil carbon pools, and modeling applications were reviewed in the context of global change, nitrogen deposition and human disturbances, based on research over the last decade. Generally, most attention has been focused on alpine steppe, alpine meadow, shrubland meadow steppe, swamp meadow and alpine wetland. Additionally, The mechanism of greenhouse gas emissions and the shift between source and sink of alpine grassland are summarised. Rising temperatures, grazing activity and nitrogen deposition all exerted significant impacts on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon cycling. However, the responses of carbon cycling to simultaneous changes of these factors is still unknown. On the basis of vegetation type, most recent carbon cycling models failed to incorporate the modulation between biotic and abiotic factors and their relationships. Finally, it was noted that the following four areas required special attention in future studies: 1) greenhouse gas emissions in the course of freeze and thaw cycles; 2) soil respiration observation during non-growing seasons; 3) coupled study on carbon cycling with plant phenology; and 4) the development of some suitable carbon cycling models for alpine grassland.