Abstract: Based on 4 periods of land sat TM image and social-economic data of the same period, the characteristics and mechanism of temporal and spatial variation of land use in Xiangjiang River basin were analyzed by employing research methods of temporal and spatial change of land use/cover. The results showed that: The land use comprehensive degree index of the study area increased from 234.26 to 235.74 during 1995-2010, but it showed obviously regional imbalance; Cultivated land, forest land and construction land were the most significant land use types for the land use change. The gravity center of farmland moved to southeast, the gravity center of forest land shifted to northwest and the gravity center of construction land moved to northeast. The speed of these movements has a characteristic of stage. The main driving forces for land use change in the study area included urbanization level improvement, population growth and secondary and tertiary industry development as well as the implementation of the project of returning farmland to forest.