The quantitative change of the cultivated land from 1990 to 2001 in the urban fringe of Wanbailin District, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province was studied, applying GIS techniques and statistical method. Results showed that 766.38 hm² of the cultivated land was converted within 11 years from 1990 to 2001, which was 52.04% of the total land changed. The dynamic degree of the cultivated land was 2.14%, which was the highest among those of the 8 land utilization types. The location effects and the comparatively higher economic benefits of land used for construction, result in the translocation of the distribution center of cultivated land, with a distance of 0.95 km from the urban fringe to the outer area. Among the 5 counties in the study region, Xiaojingyu County, located at the core area of urban fringe, the relative change rate of cultivated land was the highest with a value of 2.98. As the larger mapping units of cultivated land increased resulting from the reserved land development and the smaller units of cultivated land decreased by the construction occupation, the cultivated land fragmentation decreased from 0.264 to 0.258, cultivated land isolation increased from 0.65 to 0.68 and the cultivated land importance decreased from 53.23% to 44.86%.