Time series measurements were made from an instrumented tripod deployed on the seabed at two locations off the Changjiang on the continental shelf of the East China Sea. The first station (M3; June 1980) was positioned 150 km east of the river mouth in 39-m depth in an area of relict sand. The second station (M4; August 1981) was positioned 80 km east of the river mouth in 47-m depth over a silty-sand bottom sediment. Measurements included current speed, temperature and salinity at z = 218cm, speed and direction at z = 100cm, mean and fluctuating component of pressure for tidal and wave analyses, nephelometer measurements at z = 30cm and half-hourly bottom photographs. Data record lengths were 565 and 263 h for Stas M3 and M4, respectively. During the sampling period at both stations, tidal currents were the dominant bottom velocity component, with U 218 reaching 53 cm s −1 at M3 and U 100 reaching 44 cm s −1 at M4. Tidal current velocities were used to estimate the movement of bottom sediment and the net particle flux at the sampling locations. At Sta. M3, bedload transport was the dominant mode of grain movement. Threshold of grain motion was exceeded on 65% of all tidal cycles and over 17% of the time. The net bedload transport rate over the sampling period was estimated to be 1.7 × 10 −5gm cm −1s −1 in a northerly direction (357°T) or, extrapolated over an annual period, 5.4 × 10 4kg km −1 y −1. At Sta. M4, near the river mouth, significant semidiurnal variations in suspended sediment concentrations were observed. Advective transport of suspended sediment occurred during all tidal cycles, while resuspension of the silty bottom sediment was possible during the velocity maximums associated with spring tidal cycles. Mean suspended sediment concentrations (at z = 30cm) during neap tidal cycles was 8.4 mg I −1 and during spring tidal cycles was 29.7 mg I −1, with an overall station average of 16.5 mg l −1. Net transport of suspended load (at z = 30cm) over the sampling period was 0.11 mg cm −2 s −1 toward 62°T. The observed patterns of sediment transport are in agreement with the qualitative model presented by Chin (1979, Oceanic Selections, 2, 130–142); with bottom sediment at Sta. M3 showing a net drift towards the east northeast and the relict sand deposits farther seaward on the continental shelf migrating in a northerly direction. Major storm or gravity wave events capable of causing significant sediment transport did not occur during the field experiments and it is not known how these other forcing mechanisms would alter the observed sedimentation patterns.