It is widely accepted that the distribution of some plant species may have changed significantly along with global warming. But the change of plant distribution in recent 30 years in central and eastern China has not been systematically summarized. Based on meta-analysis and data from Atlas of Woody Plants in China and other published studies, 251 distribution records of 119 plant species in the last 15 years are obtained. This study analyzed the distribution changes of these species through comparison of the original records, and further discussed the cause for these changes by calculating the Warmth Index (WI). The results show that: (1) 80% of the plant species in central and eastern China migrated northward in recent 30 years with a mean value of 3.37 degrees. (2) Most parts of China show a significant warming trend since the 1960s under the background of global warming, and the plant distribution changes are concentrated in the significant warming regions. (3) The migration has mainly occurred in the transitional regions from subtropical evergreen broad leaved forest to warm temperate deciduous broad leaved forest and coniferous- broad leaved mixed forest in the middle temperate zone. (4) The temperature rise provides more heat to satisfy the requirements of plants that cannot adapt to the natural environment in northern China before. For 83.61% of the species, the mean WI in the 2000-2014 period can meet the needs of plants better than the 1961-1990 period, so the migration is highly related to climate warming. In this paper, the trend and amplitude of the plant distribution changes are systematically summarized in the scale of species. The results can reflect the general impact of global change on the plant aspects in China, and it also provides a solid basis for scientific assessment of the impact of climate change on ecosystem. In the follow-up study, the response process and the change direction of plant under multiple factors influence will be further discussed.