Continental shelves receive a large amount of terrestrial materials discharged from rivers and therefore become a suitable research area for Holocene climate changes. A sediment core with a length of 222cm named C706 was collected at the continental shelf off the southeastern Hainan Island, where the water depth is 137m. The core sediment sample was cut with 10cm interval and 2cm thickness in laboratory. Sediment grain size, clay minerals, total organic carbon and nitrogen contents,geochemical elements were analyzed,and also benthonic and planktonic foraminifera was identified; furthermore,AMS ~(14)C dating was conducted at three layers using foraminifera samples. The mean sedimentation rate on the continental shelf off the southeastern Hainan Island increased from 0.52mm/a between 1315BC and 518A.D. to 1.00mm/a since 1450A.D. The contents of kaolinite and the constituents of <2mum in sediment did not vary much during 1315BC ~518A.D.; they increased slightly since 518A.D. and remarkably since 1450A.D.,while the variation of MgO/Al_2O_3 showed opposite patterns, indicating that the contribution of fine sediment discharged from the Pearl River increased since 1450A.D. The increase in organic carbon content and C/N ratio revealed an enhanced influence of human activities over the recent hundred years. The variations in sedimentary structures and sedimentation rates in the study area during the Late Holocene resulted from different sediment inputs at different stages. The vertical distribution of the trace metal content of Sr, the Sr/Ba ratio and the benthonic foraminifera suggested that the continental shelf off the southeastern Hainan Island was controlled by coastal mixed water mass in the Late Holocene, with its influence being increasing since 518A.D. The distribution of planktonic foraminifera revealed the periodical variation of upwelling intensity in the region:the upwelling intensity decreased from 1000BC to 500A.D., increased from 500A.D. to 1300A.D., and decreased again after 1300A.D. The variations of the marine environment characteristics here were associated with the forcing induced by the East Asian monsoon.