The “Grain for Green Programme” was implemented in the 1990s as a solution to the extreme degradation of karst landscapes that cover one‐third of China, largely caused by decades of poorly managed intensive agriculture. The recovery of soil functions is key to the success of ecosystem regeneration of abandoned croplands where the carbon (C) and nutrient cycles have been severely perturbed by cultivation. However, an ecological ‘tipping point’ beyond which soil functions are unrecoverable in manageable timescales may have been passed in the fragile, subtropical karst ecosystem. The aim of this study was to use the activity of key enzymes for C, nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) acquisition in the soil as a proxy for the biological response to vegetation restoration after agricultural abandonment in a severely degraded karst catchment at the Karst Critical Zone Observatory in Guizhou Province. In 2016, a space‐for‐time approach was used to establish a chronosequence of vegetation recovery: sloping cropland < recently abandoned sloping cropland < shrubland < secondary (regenerated) forest < primary (natural) forest. Soils were sampled from the surface to the bedrock (up to 80‐cm depth) in each recovery phase. The activity of all enzymes in the top 0 to 30‐cm depth increased after abandonment and was positively correlated with soil nutrient and water contents. Nitrogen deficiencies were indicated by the reduced ratios of C‐ relative to N‐hydrolase activity and the increased ratios of N‐ relative to P‐hydrolase activity in the abandoned croplands and shrublands. Phosphorus deficiencies were indicated by the reduced ratios of N‐ relative to P‐hydrolase activity and C‐ relative to P‐hydrolase activity in the soils of the shrubland and secondary forest compared with the primary forest. Our results revealed that near‐to‐natural biological soil function was recoverable as vegetation naturally restored and suggested that the rate of recovery may be accelerated by managed nutrient amendments during the early stages after abandonment. This new information may help to inform the managed regeneration of degraded agricultural land in nutrient‐poor, subtropical environments.