The hot tensile deformation and fracture behaviors of the hot-rolled AZ31 magnesium alloy were studied by uniaxial tensile tests with the temperature range of 523-723 K and strain rate range of 0.05-0.0005 1/s. Effects of deformation parameters on the strain hardening rate, strain rate sensitivity, microstructural evolution and fracture morphology were discussed. The results show that: (1) The flow curves show a considerable strain hardening stage and no obvious diffuse necking stage under the relatively low temperatures (523 and 573 K). (2) The elongation to fracture increases with the increase of the deformation temperature. But, the sharp drop of the elongation to fracture under 723 K and 0.0005 1/s results from the synthetical effects of the grain growth, inverse eutectic melting reaction (α+β=L) and the incipient melting of α matrix. (3) For the case with the deformation temperature of 623 K and relatively low strain rates, the fracture mechanism is the combination of the void coalescence and intergranular fracture. (4) Under the deformation temperature of 723 K, the fine recrystallized grains experienced a rapid growth and the deformation mechanism is the dislocation creep with the help of inverse eutectic liquid phase. (5) The presence of proper amount of liquid phase on the grain boundary changes the deformation mechanisms, and makes great contribution to the high ductility. However, it will deteriorate the material ductility if the amount of liquid phase is too much.