Abstract: To understand geographical presentation of rapid urbanization and dense river network in Suzhou China, the authors utilize remote sensing information of different spatiotemporal resolution (2002-2018) to map the built-up areas and river network within the city through standardized processes. A vertical analogous quantitative method is applied to analyze the spatiotemporal relationship between urban expansion and river network recession at regional and pixel scales. Such relationship is essential in order to predict likely responses of river network recession induced by accelerating urbanization around rivers in terms of characteristic parameters such as river network density, river chains, nodes, connection rate and fractal dimension, and shows the following results: (1) The urban constructions in Suzhou have changed from expanding in all directions around the regional downtown to expanding around the multiple downtown associated with a networked connection. (2) The river network density has decreased during the urban expansion, with a stable connection rate induced by similar connectivity index, and a slightly decreased fractal dimension indicated slightly decrease of river network complexity. In the meantime, outside of the downtown, the river network has not shown obvious changes in the farmland and vegetation area. (3) The river network is significantly affected by urban expansion. Before 2010, the river network density has decreased evenly distributed in all grid cells. But after 2010, the decreases of the river network are more concentrated in grid cells with a lower proportion of built-up increment, which meant the decreases mainly occurred in the border of the urban expansion. The method in this research can provide scientific basis for the spatial planning decision making of urban ecosystem and the remote sensing scale effect research.