Abstract: Natural shoreline plays an important role in maintaining the growth of aquatic animals and protecting wetlands along the Yangtze River. This paper identifies the types of natural shorelines and constructs the classification system of the Yangtze River’s natural shoreline. Based on remote sensing image interpretation and field investigation, find out the distribution patterns of the Yangtze River natural shoreline. The natural shoreline of Yangtze River remains 4996 km. The retention rate of natural shoreline reaches 63%, in which retention rate of the bottomland wetland with extreme ecological value is below 19%. Natural shoreline are mainly distributed in Chongqing Province, Hubei Province, Anhui Province and other provinces. On overall retention rate of  natural shoreline in upstream regions is higher than downstream. The problems of artificial encroachment and interaction in shoreline, excessive hardening of embankments and shoreline encroachment in the reserve areas are discovered. Then the countermeasures and suggestions of natural shorelines protection are put forward, so as to provide references for the control of shorelines and ecological restoration of the Yangtze River.