Land use change alters the original ecosystem service values (ESV) and function of land, related toregional sustainable development. This research chose the coastal city of Xiamen as a study area, using land use data and related literature data on three phases, 1989, 2000, and 2010, the transfer matrix method, the indexes of ESV and land use dynamic degree, and calculated and analyzed the land use change in Xiamen City and its effects on ESV. The results showed that the land use dynamic degree (LUDD) in Xiamen was more than five times the national level during the same period of 1989-2010. In this period, both the dynamic degree of built-up land in Xiamen City and entire nation were higher than other types of land use. Between 2000 and 2010, Xiamen's LUDD was nearly five times (458.94%) that of between 1989 and 2010. Furthermore, the built-up land net change and dynamic degree in both Xiamen and the entire nation were as times as those in 1989-2000, much higher than that of other land use types. In comparison with the LUDD for Xiamen City and three other coastal areas, the built-up land was also higher than other land use types. Additionally, Xiamen's dynamic degree of built up land ranked higher than that of Zhejiang Coast > Xiamen > Fujian Coast > Jiangsu Coast. Regarding the spatial patterns, the increase of the built-up land in Xiamen was mainly by the landfills of watersheds and occupied the farmland around the coastal zone. Forest land remained steady in the northern area.During the period of 1989-2010, the ESV in Xiamen was consistently in decline, of which the total decreasedamount of ESV in 2000-2010 (120 million Chinese Yuan) was more than 10 times (1382.57%) of that (RMB 10 million) in 1989-2000. Because of the large area reduction in water and farmland, the ecosystem service functions, such as water conservation and waste disposal tended to be weakened, resulting in many ESV components decreasing in the entire period from 1989 to 2010. The largest decline was hydrologic regulation and waste disposal, with minimal changes in food and raw material production. During the 1989-2000 stage, the ESV change in soil protection contributed the most, whereas in the 2000-2010 stage, the ESV change in the hydrological regulation made the biggest contribution. In 2010, the ESV per km² of Xiamen was ranked at a low level in the eastern coastal areas. Looking back on its high LUDD in 2000-2010, it indicated that Xiamen needed to define an ecological redline for strict protectionon keyecological functional zones, especially for watersheds and forest land in the northern area.