The present paper deals with the brief review of studies on the physical properties of red soils in China since 1960. The important effect of soil structure on the fertility of red soils is described. Meanwhile it was shown that although in some clayey red soils the clay particles (<0.001 mm) can amount to 40-50%, a series of physical behaviours of these soils are quite different from those of clayey soils distributed in the temperate zone, for instance, red soils have a great water retention capacity, but their water supplying capacity is lower. The available moisture of these soils under the range from -30 kPa to -15 MPa water potentials is about 10%. This is an important reason inducing red soils to be liable to drought during the growing period of crops. Results also show that the clayey red soils have good tilth properties due to the presence of a great amount of water stable microaggregates in these soils.