Fear of losing control over one's emotions has gained increased research interest. Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) has been found to improve emotional disturbance in clinical and nonclinical samples. However, no studies have concurrently examined the direct effects of MBSR on reduced fear of emotions among university students in Chinese culture, as well as its indirect effects on reduced fear of emotions via improvements in the cognitive-behavioral processes. A total of 106 college students were randomly assigned to MBSR or to a control group. Assignment to the MBSR intervention led to increases in mindfulness and decentering, and decreases in rumination, emotion regulation difficulties, Affective Control Scale (ACS)-anger, ACS-depression, ACS-anxiety, ACS-positive emotion and total ACS score, as compared to the control group. The reduction of fear of positive emotion was less than that in fear of anger, depression and anxiety. MBSR was effective to reduce the fear of emotions in college students. Moreover, college students in Chinese culture tended to have a more moderate experience of positive emotions. Attention (mindfulness) and thought (decentering and rumination) may be possible cognitive mechanisms for explaining how MBSR may reduce fear of emotions in college students. Our findings provide important information that can be applied to the design of future studies or mental health resources for reducing fear of emotions in university programs.