Abstract: Land use transformation research is the current research hotspot and is the most significant area of human activities in Guizhou Province, which is dominated with plateau and mountains. Hence, it is valuable to investigate the interaction between the land use transformation and functional evolution based on arable land in Guizhou Province. Based on the high-resolution remote sensing images during 1966-2016 and field investigations, the present study established the classification system of the function of the land use in the basin and performed the empirical study on the dominant and implicit transition of dam land use, such as the typical basin of Lianjiang in Guizhou. The results can be summarized as follows: from 1966 to 2016, the basin mainly experienced dominant and implicit transformations of land use; the characteristics of the cooperative transformation of cultivated land transformation and functional evolution are obvious, which is dominated by the transformation of resource allocation mode under the transformation of the social and economic development stage of the basin. Case studies suggested that the land use transformation of Guizhou basin can be divided into extensive stages, extensive transition to intensive, gradual intensification and intensification. The three important factors, i.e, “individual, government and market”, “cultural, institutional, socio-economic, and population technology”, are the driving control systems for the land use transformation of the basin.