Object-oriented taxonomy was used to obtain land cover data for Xiamen City from 1985 to 2015.Then land use transfer matrix analysis and dynamic degree analysis were applied to monitor land use change process dynamically.The results showed that woodland and arable land decreased 60.96 and 108.33 km~2,respectively in the past 30 years,most of which were converted into construction land and traffic land.Water and other land decreased by 14.23 and 15.89 km~2,respectively,which were mainly converted into construction land.Aquaculture water increased by 31.00 km~2 after 1985,which mostly occupied arable land.But it decreased by 38.35 km~2 from 2005 to 2015 and converted to construction land mostly.Climate change,economic development,rapid population growth and tourism are all the main reasons for the change in land use in Xiamen City.