Macrobenthic communities were sampled four times over a one year period between December 2010 and September 2011 at six different sites in North Hezhou, Zhuhai, China. The six sites comprised four restored mangrove forest habitats (each dominated by a different mangrove species: Acanthus ilicifolius, Bruguiera gymnorrhiza, Kandelia candel and Sonneratia apetala) and two diked wetland habitats, one of which was composed of Cyperus malaccensis var. brevifolius, and the other Phragmites australis. In total, 35 macrobenthic species were recorded during the study. The dominant taxa recorded were crustaceans (10 taxa) and polychaetes (7 taxa). The number of species recorded at a single site varied from 7 (Kandelia candel habitat) to 19 (Acanthus ilicifolius habitat). Hierarchical clustering (based on the Bray-Curtis similarity index) combined with non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS); implemented in PRIMER 5 under the condition of 55% non-similarity), was used to classify sampling sites into three groups based on their macrobenthic fauna. Group 1 comprised Cyperus malaccensis var. brevifolius, Acanthus ilicifolius, and Bruguiera gymnorrhiza habitats; Group 2 comprised the Sonneratia apetala habitat; while Group 3 comprised Kandelia candel and Phragmites australis habitat. However, species composition was similar across all three groups, because Discapseudes mackiei was abundant at all six habitats. The highest number of species (19), highest Margalef index (d = 1.93±0.11), and highest species diversity (Shannon-wiener index, H' = 1.51±0.13)were recorded at the Acanthus ilicifolius habitat, where crustaceans, mainly Ilyrplax deschampsi, were the dominant group recorded. Macrobenthos density was highest at the Cyperus malaccensis var. brevifolius habitat (254.67±156.81) ind./m², while macrobenthos biomass was highest at the Sonneratia apetala habitat (32.06±19.62) g/m²). Interestingly, the faunal community structure at the Sonneratia apetala habitat differed significantly to the other habitats, as it was dominated by climbing species, such as Chiromantes dehaani and Pythia cecillei. Discapseudes mackiei and polychaetes were the dominant species within Kandelia candel and Phragmites australis habitats. Overall, macrobenthos species richness, density, biomass and species diversity were low within all six habitats. We also classified macrobenthic community structure based on functional feeding groups (FFGs) and life form analyses. Results showed that the omnivorous functional feeding group and below-surface life forms were abundant at all habitats within the North Hezhou tidal flat. Similarity percentages analysis (SIMPER) showed that the species that differentiated the macrobenthic communities of different habitats were the dominant species in each habitat. The results of a canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) revealed that macrobenthic communities changed significantly with depth (Monte Carlo permutation test: P < 0.05) and salinity (P < 0.05), but not with temperature (P > 0.05). The findings of this study suggest that macrobenthic communities differ structurally between the diked wetland habitats and the natural tidal flat habitats, with the highest densities and biomasses of macrobenthos occurring at habitats close to the tidal gate. Our results further reveal significant differences in the dominant species of macrobenthos occurring in different habitats. Furthermore, our results show that environmental variables, such as depth and salinity, are the most important factors affecting macrobenthic communities in the North Hezhou tidal flat.