A research was carried out to determine the aftereffects of rewatering after water stress in the final rice growth stage by pot and test-pit experiments. The results show that the post-drought rewatering has obvious aftereffects in the initial rice growing stage, which is particularly significant after short-duration heavy drought at late tillering stage and light drought at early jointing stage. Moderate rewatering after water stress in initial rice growing stage can preserve large photosynthetic area, delay chlorophyll degradation, enable functional leaves to maintain high photosynthetic efficiency, which is eventually beneficial to dry matter accumulation during final rice growth stage. 