Based on the land use data in Zhejiang province of 8 periods from 1980 to 2020, this study analyzed the water system spatiotemporal pattern, water surface ratio, transformation trend, landscape pattern and other characteristics in different periods of Zhejiang province, trying to reveal the driving factors of these changes. The results show that: (1) the total water area of Zhejiang province tends to rise, the area of rivers and beaches tend to decrease, while the area of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and tidal flats tend to increase. The transfer of water system was concentrated in rivers, lakes and coastal side. (2) The water landscape pattern index of Zhejiang province increase by MPS, NP, LST, FRA, CCONTAG, and decrease by PD, ED, LPI, COHESION and AI, reflecting the fragmentation, dispersion and complexity of water landscape. (3) The area of water system shows different pattern in different cities, in particular, the area of rivers, reservoirs ponds in Hangzhou is the largest, the area of lakes in Jiaxing and Huzhou is the largest, the area of tidal flats in Ningbo is the largest, the area of beaches in Shaoxing is the largest. The water system of each basin mainly consists of reservoirs and ponds, and their area were increased during these periods, while the area of other land types changed little. (4) The water area system of Zhejiang province was closely related to human activities (GDP, total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, population density), while the influence of natural factors on water area was relatively stable with the influence of annual precipitation greater than that of annual temperature.