The Northeast provinces of China support a diverse mixed temperate forest and have plantations suitable for carbon sequestration. Carbon sequestration potential of plantations can be increased by thinning and underplanting with hardwood species. The main objective of this thesis is to develop a quantified measure of shade tolerance for common tree species using the whole plant light compensation point approach. Secondary objectives include: assessing the effect of the soil texture, soil moisture and the presence of two species ( Pinus koraiensis and Larix olgensis) commonly used in plantations on sapling growth and/or establishment success.Data was collected over six weeks during the summer of 2004 adjacent to the Changbaishan Reserve. Eighteen of the twenty species studied could survive and grow beneath the canopy of an existing plantation. Species that demonstrated the best combination of traits were Fraxinus mandshurica, Populus davidiana and Tilia amurensis. These conclusions are restricted to the area studied.