This article shows how karsts of the Southwestern China recorded the past according several scales. They represent a wide variety of environments ranging from 200 to 5.000 m asl, one of the most remarkable on Earth. From a geological point of view, all these karsts belong to the Yangtse platform, one of the main geotectonic chinese unit, which extends from the Himalaya to the Chinese Sea. Low and middle altitude subtropical karsts underwent a dramatic human destabilization of the environment during XXth century: for example, Guizhou and Hubei Provinces are areas being impacted to varying degrees. A long trip back in time is necessary to determine the landscape evolution (§ I) with men, (§ II) without man and (§ III)to reconstitute the palaeolandscapes. I- The Time of Men belongs to short time, from the contemporary period to the first civilizations (0 - 11.000 years). Two examples were selected: 1/ for exokarst, “teeth stone’’ (shiya) are indicators of rural ecological disaster (recent deforestation, Guizhou); 2/ for endokarst, a sedimentary section studied in Dadong network allows to confirm that slash-and-burn agriculture beginnings about 10.000 years BP (Hubei). II- The Time of Geomorphology can be exemplified by functional landscapes; it corresponds to middle time scale (11.000 years - 1-5 Ma). The evolution is both controlled by the tectonic uplift and the climate changes: 1/ a speleothem recorded climatic conditions during OIS 3: the ecological balance was undisturbed (Hubei); 2/ tunnel-caves with staged levels are illustrated by the famous Gebihe system in Ziyun County (Guizhou); it crosses a fengcong karst with dry staged tunnels which recorded the Himalayan multiphase uplift. The transition from Middle Time to Long Time is marked by the uneven high surface (natural bridges, collapse megadolines, eroded tunnel without roof looking like a dry valley, former shafts located on the top of crests). In the Guizhou karsts, the alterites and pedologic soils were formed from ancient non-carbonated sedimentary covers from Paleozoic and Trias. These alterites result from a long geochemical evolution dating from the Tertiary. III- The Time of Geology (long time scale, > 5 Ma) is not visible in the present landscapes. The succession orogenic cycle caused the disappearance several kilometers of deposits. This erosion is recorded in the marine, lacustrine and continental sediments. The conservative function of karts allows two types of archives: the red basins and the paleokarsts. Today, one of the major problems of this area is the ongoing soil erosion. The disappearance of the karstic soils due to deforestation, thus represents an irredeemable loss on a human scale (Time of Men) because the limestones are particularly lacking in insoluble matter (Time of Geology) to allow the soil regeneration (Time of Geomorphology).