Abstract: The region around the coastal zone of the Bohai Bay is one of the hot spots of socio-economic development in China. Consequently, significant land useand cover changes have occurred. Based on the theories of GIS and methods of landscape ecology, changes of land use and cover were analyzed in the Bohai Bay coastal zone (Tianjin) from 1954 to 2000, to detect the different degradation regions and features over the past 50 years. The results indicated that the area of high-quality landscape zones declined by 51.98% from 1954 to 2000. The mostsignificant land use and cover change was that large quantities of grasslands, marshes, and mudflats were changed into high economic value land types such as farmland, salt ponds, ports and culture ponds due to the rapid socio-economic development in the coastal zone. During the period from 1954 to 1970, the fastest degradation from the high to low quality landscapes occurred, with a degradation rate of 3,　684.50 hm² per year. It was found that the most important driving factors were population growth, mudflat development, intertidal zone reclamation and pollutants inputs, etc.