[Objective] The engineering disturbances have triggered soil erosion events in subalpine meadows, intensify regional soil erosion and vegetation destruction. The relationship between physical and chemical properties and disintegration characteristics of subalpine meadow soils in central Yunnan was studied to provide reference for soil and water conservation and control and vegetation protection in sub-alpine meadow ecosystems. [Methods] By X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy scanning, and static water disintegration experiments were conducted to determine the physico-chemical properties, mineral composition, microscopic structure, and disintegration characteristics of subalpine meadow soils in central Yunnan. The correlation between soil disintegration and physico-chemical properties was analyzed to explore the reason of soil disintegration in sub-alpine meadows of central Yunnan. [Results] (1) The subalpine meadow soils in central Yunnan exhibited a high susceptibility to disintegration when encountering water. The resistance to disintegration of different parent materials in the same soil layer were as follows sandstone>limestone≈basalt. The characteristics of different soil layers in the same parent material were as follows leaching horizon>deposition layer>parent material layer. (2) Correlation analysis showed that the average soil disintegration rate was significantly negative correlated with organic matter (r=-0.84) and total nitrogen (r=-0.83), positively correlated with clay content (r=0.88), and positively correlated with montmorillonite (r=0.68) and hematite (r=0.77). (3) The main factors affecting the disintegration of subalpine meadow soils in central Yunnan were biological processes and swelling of hydrophilic clay minerals such as montmorillonite and illite. [Conclusion] The resistance to disintegration of subalpine meadow soils in central Yunnan was ranked as follows: Sandstone>limestone≈basalt for different parent materials, and leaching horizon>deposition layer>parent material layer for different soil layers. The subalpine meadow soil in central Yunnan was easy to disintegrate when exposed to water, the main factors affecting the disintegration of subalpine meadow soils in central Yunnan were biological processes and swelling of hydrophilic clay minerals such as montmorillonite and illite.