Based on remote sensing images in 1988,1993 and 1998,measurement of Mashans land use was conducted through methods of maximum like and probabilistic relaxation,which revealed the city's spatial process in the past 11 years.The conclusions may be distinguished as follows:(a) The results of the detection are reasonable and it is feasible to calculate the transfer matrix of land use to show spatial pattern of land use distribution as unit of image pixel.(b) The main characteristics of Mashans land use change are the obvious reduction of the existing farm land and forest land,and subsequent rapid increase in urban land along Guzhu road and tourism/vocationing district along ring road which are the main developing axes during the recent 10 years.In 1988,agricultural production was the main human driving force that impacted Mashan landscape,but in 1998,urban development became the main one.The typical agricultural landscape in 1988 has been transformed into the urban fringe landscape in 1998.(c) Under the favorable policy formulated by the central and local governments,the main driving forces of land use change in Mashan are the rapid growth of population,foreign investment,fixed assets investment and development of the tertiary industry which was based on tourist industry.The driving forces will continue to affect land use in the future.