Abstract: The cultural landscape of the water towns in the Pearl River Delta as the physical representation of the traditional farming and lifestyle reveals the changing relation between human and nature since late Qing Dynasty. This research maps out the landscape spatial elements and abstracts its spatial characteristics based on the historical and contemporary maps. The comparison between the two situations in different eras not only shows the historical transformation of the cultural landscape, but also facilitates discussion of the synchronic diversities and diachronic evolution patterns of different landscape typologies. The research provides a new insight and an effective methodology to approach the recognition and preservation of cultural landscape.