Abstract: Regional land use change is an important part of global change The Bohai Rim is one of the hot spots for socio economic development in China, so the land use change will be improved greatly Based on the RS and GIS methods, we analyze the land use information from 1985 and 1995 TM images, then in both spatial and temporal aspects, we analyze the situation of land use change in the region It is found: (1) The land use changed greatly in the Bohai Rim during 1985～1995 The cultivated land decreased by 1 800 000 hm 2, forestland increased by 600 389 hm 2 and land for housing and other construction purposes increased remarkably in the last ten years (2) The speed of the land use change in the region was up to 0 85% per year The cultivated land decreased at the rate of 1 26% per year, land for housing and other construction purposes, water area, and forestland increased at different rates, among which land for housing and other construction purposes and water area were the highest (up to 6 40% and 6 95% per year respectively) (3) There were notable differences of land use change among the sub areas in the region For cultivated land change, Beijing and Liaoning Province (partly) was the greatest, Hebei Province the smallest For land for housing and other construction purposes, Liaoning (partly) was the greatest, Beijing the second, Tianjin the smallest in land use change (4) As to the spatial change, 30% of the area in the region was under the changing process, major types of which were cultivated land turned to be land for housing and other construction purposes, and cultivated land turned to be forestland and grassland Those types of land were distributed widely and differently in different areas, but mostly near the mountains and in areas joining the town and country (5) The direction of land use change in the region was to occupy cultivated land for and convert land between forest and cultivated land at different units into that for housing and other contruction purposes.

Key words: the Bohai Rim, land use change, spatio temporal analysis