Abstract: Wetlands are those areas that inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances that do support a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Generally, wetlands included swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas. Characteristics and features of the wetlands in China were introduced and discribed in detail in the article.

Key words: land use change, readily oxidizable carbon, soil physical and chemical properties, coastal area of northern Jiangsu Province.