According to the long-time series data of annual runoff and sediment at the Yichang Station in the Yangtze River during1952-2015, this paper revealed the evolution characteristics and driving factors based on Mann-Kendall, wavelet analysis and aver -age difference T methods. The results indicate that: (1) The annual runoff shows a slightly decreasing trend while the annual sedimentshows an obviously decreasing trend. (2) The runoff occurred mutation in 2005 while the sediment in 2002. (3) Wavelet analysisdemonstrates that the change characteristics of annual runoff and sediment show a main period from 20 to 24 years. (4) Theannual runoff series can be divided into three high-flow periods (1952-1955, 1961-1968, 1979-2001) and three low-flow period(1956-1960, 1969-1978, 2002-2015) respectively. In addition, the annual sediment series can be divided into two high-sedimentperiods (1952-1993, 1998-2002) and two low-sediment periods (1994-1997, 2003-2015) respectively. (5) The significant reductionof the annual sediment are mainly resulted from sediment-trapping of reservoirs , sand mining on river channels, soil and waterconservation projects.