Objective To investigate the psychological resilience and perceived stress of nursing students during the initial period of clinical practice and to explore the correlation between them. Methods From July to September 2016, we selected 246 nursing students at two ClassⅢ Grade A hospitals in Harbin City as subjects by convenience sampling. All of the nursing students were investigated with the Connor Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) for nursing students during clinical practice. Results A total of 246 questionnaires were sent out and 228 valid questionnaires were collected in this study. The scores of CD-RISC and PSS of nursing students during the initial period of clinical practice were (86.48±14.63) and (59.39±14.64) respectively with a negative correlation between them (r=-0.368, P＜ 0.001). The toughness and competency dimension in the CD-RISC were the influencing factors of perceived stress of nursing students during the initial period of clinical practice (P＜ 0.05). Conclusions Psychological resilience of nursing students during the initial period of clinical practice can influence the perceived stress. Educators should take reasonable intervention to improve psychological resilience of nursing students so as to reduce the perceived stress of nursing students.