The goal of this study was to examine the cross-lagged relations between vocabulary and word reading in children learning two scripts at the same time (pinyin and Chinese). One hundred fifty-nine third-year kindergarten Chinese children (70 girls and 89 boys; mean age = 72.70 months) were assessed on measures of nonverbal IQ, phonological awareness, and vocabulary. In Grades 1 and 2, they were reassessed on pinyin reading, Chinese word reading, and vocabulary. Results of cross-lagged analysis indicated that vocabulary and Chinese word reading were reciprocally related. In contrast, the relation between pinyin reading and vocabulary was unidirectional (pinyin reading in Grade 1 predicted vocabulary in Grade 2). Taken together, these findings suggest that the direction of the relation between vocabulary and word reading is sensitive to the features of the script children are learning to read (thus, providing support of the script relativity hypothesis) and the time when these measures are assessed in different scripts.