Rice cropping systems not only characterize comprehensive utilization intensity of agricultural resources but also serve as the basis to enhance the provision services of agro-ecosystems.Yet,it is always affected by external factors,like agricultural policies.Since 2004,seven consecutive No.1 Central Documents issued by the Central Government have focused on agricultural development in China.So far,few studies have investigated the ef-fects of these policies on the rice cropping systems.In this study,based upon the long-term field survey information on paddy rice fields,we proposed a method to discriminate the rice cropping systems with Landsat data and quantified the spatial variations of rice cropping systems in the Poyang Lake Region(PLR),China.The results revealed that:(1) from 2004 to 2010,the decrement of paddy rice field was 46.76 km2 due to the land use change.(2) The temporal dynamics of NDVI derived from Landsat historical images could well characterize the temporal development of paddy rice fields.NDVI curves of single cropping rice fields showed one peak,while NDVI curves of double cropping rice fields displayed two peaks an-nually.NDVI of fallow field fluctuated between 0.15 and 0.40.NDVI of the flooded field during the transplanting period was relatively low,about 0.20±0.05,while NDVI during the period of panicle initiation to heading reached the highest level(above 0.80).Then,several temporal windows were determined based upon the NDVI variations of different rice cropping systems.(3) With the spatial pattern of paddy rice field and the NDVI threshold within optimum tem-poral windows,the spatial variation of rice cropping systems was very obvious,with an in-creased multiple cropping index of rice about 20.2% from 2004 to 2010.The result indicates that agricultural policies have greatly enhanced the food provision services in the PLR,China. Rice cropping systems not only characterize comprehensive utilization intensity of agricultural resources but also serve as the basis to enhance the provision services of agro-ecosystems.Yet, it is always affected by external factors, like agricultural policies. Central Documents issued by the Central Government have focused on agricultural development in China. So far, few studies have investigated the ef-fects of these policies on the rice cropping systems. This this, based on the long-term field survey information on paddy rice fields, we proposed a method to discriminate the rice cropping systems with Landsat data and quantified the spatial variations of rice cropping systems in the Poyang Lake Region (PLR), China. These Results revealed that: (1) from 2004 to 2010, the decrement of paddy rice field was 46.76 km2 due to the land use change. (2) The temporal dynamics of NDVI derived from Landsat historical images could well characterize the temporal developme nt of paddy rice fields. NDVI curves of single cropping rice fields showed one peak, while NDVI curves of double cropping rice fields displayed two peaks an-nually. NDVI of fallow field fluctuated between 0.15 and 0.40. NDVI of the flooded fields during the transplanting while the NDVI during the period of the panicle initiation to summit reached the highest level (above 0.80) .Then, several temporal windows were determined based on the NDVI variations of different rice cropping systems. (3) With the spatial pattern of paddy rice field and the NDVI threshold within optimum tem-poral windows, the spatial variation of rice cropping systems was very obvious, with an in-creased multiple cropping index of rice about 20.2% from 2004 to 2010.The result indicates that agricultural policies have greatly enhanced the food provision services in the PLR, China.