[Objective] The variation of vegetation community and soil nutrients in artificial grassland was studied and the long-term successional mechanism of artificial grasslands was explored in order to provide theoretical basis for the near-natural restoration of degraded alpine meadow (wetland).[Methods] The vegetation communities and soil nutrients of artificial grassland with different planting years (3, 11 and 17 years) were investigated in Maqin County of Qinghai Province, the source region of the Yellow River. Random forest analysis was used to determine the variation of vegetation community and soil nutrient characteristics of artificial grassland under different restoration years.[Results] The coverage of dominant species Elymus nutans decreased with the increase of restoration years, while the total coverage, biological crust coverage, weed coverage and reproductive branch number showed an inverted "V" shape of variation. The Cyperaceae coverage and species richness increased gradually with the increase of restoration years. The coverage of Cyperaceae in 17 years artificial grassland was 10 times of that in 3 and 11 years. The total nitrogen, total potassium, available nitrogen, available potassium and organic matter in soil increased with the increase of restoration years. The soil pH value tended to be neutral with the increase of restoration years. The greatest differences among vegetation with different restoration years was the soil total nitrogen content, with the average accuracy degraded about 25.71. Followed by the organic matter content, the average accuracy degraded about 18.55. The differences of total potassium content and Pielou index among vegetation with different restoration years were the smallest, and the average index degraded was less than 5.[Conclusion] The vegetation community structure and soil nutrient of artificial grassland with 17 years restoration are gradually recovering, but the soil total nitrogen and organic matter content of the artificial grassland is only half of the original alpine meadow soil, and it will take a long time for the soil nutrient to recover completely.