Based on Landsat TM and ETM remote sensing images in 2000, 2005 and 2010 and an object-oriented classification method, this paper extracted information on the temporal and spatial change characteristics and the driving forces for lake areas in northeast China during the past 10 years (2000-2010). The results showed that during the past 10 years, the area of those lakes has reduced from 12234.02 km² to 11307.58 km², with a greater shrinking rate in the later five years (2005-2010). Meanwhile, natural lake area has significantly reduced while artificial lake area slightly increased during the past 10 years. In the study area, lake shrinkage in the northwest is less than that in the southeast, resulted in the centroid moving to the northwest. Those changes resulted from both natural factors and human activities, and the coupled effects greatly accelerated local environment changes.