There are many controversial issues in loess studies such as natural vegetation types on the Chinese Loess Plateau during the historical periods and the spatial and temporal evolution of C₃/C₄ plants. Elemental carbon isotopic composition (δ ¹³C_ec) in the loess section may offer new evidence for these problems. Elemental carbon (EC) is produced by incomplete combustion of vegetation, and its carbon isotopic composition has a very small difference from that of the formal vegetation, then δ ¹³C_ec can be used as a record to recover the changes of vegetation. Elemental carbon was extracted by applying the oxidation method from the loess-paleosol sequence in the central Chinese Loess Plateau, and its carbon isotope composition was analyzed by the isotope mass spectrometer. The results showed that the vegetation in this region was a mixed type of C₃ and C₄ plants, dominated with C₃ plants in most of the time. Since late Quaternary, C₃/C₄ plants may not follow a simple glacial-interglacial cycle mode on the Chinese Loess Plateau, but showing fluctuations. C₃ plants increased gradually in L4 period, and more C₃ plants occurred during S3 period, and C₄ plants increased again during L3-L2 periods, after that, C₃ plants dominated again during S1-S0 periods. During periods of paleosol development, C₃ plants were abundant in S3 and S1, and there were more C₄ plants in S2 and S0. During periods of loess sedimentation, there were more C₃ plants in L4 and L1, and there were more C₄ plants in L3 and L2. On the orbital timescale, the vegetation variations revealed by δ ¹³C_ec record are consistent with the results of pollen data and also similar to the results obtained by organic carbon isotopic composition since the last glacial period.