Abstract: Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis Gary) is a large anadromous species, which matures in coastal waters and enters into rivers for spawning. This species was listed in the IUCN Red List as the endangered in 1996 and Critically Endengered in 2010. However, this kind of threatened categories of this species is questionable since no systematic criterion had been established for such classificaiton. This study established the classification criterion for endangered levels of this species on the basis of the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Data from the biological changes (i.e., decline in the spawning population and spawning sizes, changes in the sex ratio) and the abiotic changes (i.e., habitat fragmentation, environmental changes, anthropogenic activities such as overfishing, river damming) were collected and analyzed. This study classified such data by decades to reveal the generational changes in Yangtze stocks of Chinese sturgeon and abiotic factors. Moreover, the biological and abiotic changes from the spawning grounds were used for the establishments of endangered categories of Chinese sturgeon, refering to the indexs of mature individuals and area of occupancy from the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. This study revealed that both spawning stocks and spawning sizes in the spawning grounds declined sharply since 1980s. Abiotic changes affected such decline varied over the decades. According to the endangered criterion esatblised in this study, Chinese sturgeon is endangered during the periods from 1983 to 1992 and critically endangered during the periods from 2003 to 2012. The endangered levels of Chinese sturgeon were affected by multiple factors, mainly the population quality, anthropogenic activities, and environmental changes. The influence of anthropogenic activities and changes in environmental structure on Chinese sturgeon demonstrates a highly diversity and complexity pattern. This type of influence varied with temporal and spatial scales. Based on the endangered status of Chinese sturgeon and affected factors, the countermeasures and effects in different decades were evaluated. Finally, the framework for the conservation options and strategies of Chinese sturgeon were proposed.