The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary energy and protein levels on growth performance, body composition and digestive enzyme activities of juvenile Jian carp (average initial body weight, 10±0.5 g). 960 fish were randomly distributed into 32 tanks (3.0 m×1.0 m×0.8 m) at a density of 30 fish per tank. Fish were fed eight practical diets with two digestible energy (DE) levels (13.5 and 14.5 MJ/kg) and four crude protein (CP) levels (26%，30%，33% and 36%) three times daily for 8 weeks. The results indicated that weight gain rate(WGR) and specific growth rate (SGR) increased with increasing dietary protein levels although no significant difference was observed (P＞0.05). WGR, SGR and feed conversion ratio (FCR) improved significantly (P<0.05) as dietary energy levels increased. WGR and SGR of fish fed diets P36E14.5 and P33E14.5 were significantly (P<0.05) higher than those of fish fed diets P26E13.5, P30L13.5 and P33L13.5, but showed little difference from those of the other groups (P＞0.05). Protein efficiency ratio and nitrogen retention efficiency (NRE) decreased significantly (P<0.01) as dietary protein levels increased. In addition, NRE increased significantly (P<0.05) as dietary energy levels increased. Contrary to moisture, relative feed intake, hepatosomatic index and wholebody lipid content decreased significantly (P<0.05) as dietary protein levels increased. Intestine protease activities increased significantly (P<0.05) as dietary protein levels increased, whereas little difference was observed in lipase and amylase activities (P＞0.05). These results demonstrated that the diet which contains 33% protein and 14.5 MJ/kg energy is optimal for growth performance and feed utilization of juvenile Jian carp. Nitrogenfree extract could be used effectively by juvenile Jian carp and has a proteinsparing effect.