This paper presents a general description of modern deposition on the continental shelf of the East China Sea. The material upon which this study was based consisted of core and surface sediment samples。 On the continental shelf. the modern sediments consist mainly of clay, while in the region of estuaries and the Jianggang Bay in northern Jiangsu Province, they consist mainly of sand. In the region south of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River mouth, at water depths of less than 50-60 meters, the area of clayey sediments ranges from 90-100 kilometers in width, being thickest near the shore, measuring about 40-50 meters and thinning out toward the sea.It is also vastly distributed in the southern part of the South Yellow Sea where it extends over an area with water depths of 100 meter. its thickness being less than half a meter. The modern sediments on the continental shelf occurred 7000-8000 yrs B.P.when the sea level uplifted to the present position. Transportation and deposition of the modern sediments are influenced by both the movement of terrigenous source materials and current, so the distributive tendency of the modern sediments is consistent with both the consistent variation of suspended materials in. sea water and the current system. The suspened materials that come from the Changjiang (Yangtze) River mouth have been distributed by currents. Some of them are carried southward by longshore current of the East China Sea, and then deposited in the shallow area near the shore south of the Changjiang(Yangtze) River mouth, while the other suspended materials are transported eastwards, and deposited in the southern part of the South Yellow Sea. The suspended materils carried away from the northern and middle part of the South Yellow Sea by southflowing current are also deposited in the southern part of the South Yellow Sea, the residual suspended materials are transported over the continental shelf into the open sea. The sandy materials from the Changjiang (Yangtze)River are deposited in its estuary. The presence of sandy sediments in Jianggang Bay is a result of the action of tidal current. In the area of relict sand only a little biogenic deposition occurred. The continental shelf of the East China Sea may be divided into four modern depositional provinces and one relict depositional province: 1) modern deltaic deposition in the Changjiang(Yangtze)River mouth; 2) shallow sea deposition covering near shore areas from Fujian Province to Zhejiang Province; 3)shallow sea deposition in the northern part of the continental shelf;4) modern tidal current deposition in the Jianggan Bay; 5) relict deposition on the outer continental shelf.