Aiming at improving hightemperature wear resistance of austenitic stainless steel, a wear resistant composite coating reinforced with hard (Cr,Fe)7C3 carbide and toughened by ductile γ(Ni,Fe) solid solution matrix is fabricated by a novel central hollow laser cladding technique. Sliding wear tests of the composite coating and substrate are conducted at ambient temperature, 300 ℃ and 600 ℃, respectively, and the corresponding wear mechanisms are discussed. Results indicate that the composite coating exhibits superior wear resistance than substrate either at ambient or high temperatures. At ambient temperature， the wear mechanism of the substrate is dominated by adhesive wear while the coating shows abrasive. At 300 ℃, the substrate′s wear mechanism is the combination of adhesive and abrasive wear while the coating′s is abrasive wear. As temperature attains 600 ℃, brittle fracture, plastic deformation and severe oxidation are discovered on the substate′s worn surface, while the coating exhibits mild adhesive and abrasive wear. The coating shows better sliding wear resistance at 600 ℃ than that at 300 ℃ owing to polishing effect and formation of lubricative continuous transfer films, which implies that it has large potential in higher temperatures.