[Objectives] The Three Gorges Reservoir area is an important ecological barrier in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and a national key area for soil and water erosion control. With the implementation of major ecological restoration projects, the effectiveness of vegetation construction has been obvious, but the water regulation and soil conservation effects of restored vegetation lack in situ observation and quantitative research. The prominent contradiction between man and land and the development of rural industries have put forward new demands for the optimal utilization of understory land resources, and their impact on the water conservation and soil erosion control functions is not yet clear. [Methods] Taking a typical fallow forest in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area as the research object, four runoff plots with full-slope herbaceous cover (QF), upper-slope bare ground + lower-slope herbaceous cover (XF), equidistant herbaceous strip cover (TF), and full-slope herbless coverage (WF), were set up to carry out field observation of slope runoff and sand production in 24 erosive rainfall events and to identify the effects of erosive rainfall and vegetation cover patterns on hillslope runoff and sediment yields. [Results] The results show that:(1) The 24 erosive rainfall events were classified into three categories, including A-type (small rainfall, heavy rainfall intensity, and short duration), B-type (large rainfall, heavy rainfall intensity, and short duration), and C-type (small rainfall, light rainfall intensity, and long duration). A-type is the rain type with the highest frequency, with a frequency of 45.83%. The cumulative rainfall of B-type is the largest, accounting for 63.44% of the total rainfall. (2) The cumulative runoff depth and cumulative erosion volume of the four vegetation cover patterns generally showed QF