Situated at Yangtze Rive Delta (YRD), Zhangjiagang City has been undergoing a very rapid economic development since the adoption of the reform and opening policy in the 1980s.Based on intensive soil sampling from large fields and fields near the factories, (ⅰ) status of soil heavy metal (Cd, Hg, and Pb) pollution, (ⅱ) effect of sampling methods, i.e.sampling in large fields (A) and in combination of large fields and fields near factories (B) on the assessment of soil heavy metal pollution, and (ⅲ) effect of industrial types on soil heavy metal accumulation with the aid of ratios of soil heavy metal content in top-soil and sub-soil (element ratio) were discussed in the paper.In general, the soil heavy metal pollution in Zhangjiagang City were not serious with the average content of the elements close to their respective background value or lower than criteria of the second grade of the national standard for soil environmental quality (GB15618-1995) and the limitation values for soil environment pollution of green-food production bases (NY/T391-2000).However, heavy metal contents in some samples were over the standard, resulting in a distribution of small area of soils with high element contents.The sampling methods had a significant effect on assessment of soil pollution.For Cd and Pb, the soils had a lower contents of the elements (p<0.05) from method A than B.However, it is contrary for Hg.The area of soils with high element content was larger for three metals from methods B than A.Most of the samples from the soils near factories were higher in element ratio than those from large fields.Metallurgical industry caused a significant accumulation of Pb, whereas the chemical industry and electrical industry could cause accumulation of more metals.All these results provide valuable basic data and a decision-making basis for planning of investigation, assessment and management of soil environmental quality in Zhangjiagang City or other similar regions in China.