A group of artificially propagated "standardized" Anodonta woodiana mussels were transplanted to Wulihu area of Lake Taihu for assessing the spatial and temporal trends of heavy metal pollution. Meanwhile, the same batch mussels were continually reared in an unpolluted pond of Nanquan Aquatic Base of Freshwater Fisheries Research Center, Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences as a control group. The period of active biomonitoring by transplantation was over 9 months. Mussels from the transplanted and control groups were recollected, respectively, every 3 months to determine heavy metal (Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Mo, Ag, Cd, Ba, Tl, and Pb) concentrations using an ICP-MS. The results showed that metal bioaccumulation were presented in both control and transplanted mussels. Arsenic concentration in mussels transplanted to Wulihu area for 3 months was significantly higher than that of control mussels in Nanquan Aquatic Base for 3 months, while concentrations of Mn, Fe, Zn, and Ba in the former were significantly lower than those of the latter;concentrations of Al and Pb in mussels transplanted to Wulihu area for 6 months were significantly lower than those of the same period control mussels of Nanquan Aquatic Base;and Pb concentration in mussels transplanted to Wulihu area for 9 months were significantly lower than that of the same period control mussels. However, concentrations of heavy metals (Cr, Cu, As, Cd, and Pb) in both control mussels and transplanted mussels were obviously lower than national and international limits. In addition, metal pollution indexes (MPI) of control mussels for 3, 6 and 9 months were 1.8, 2.4, and 8.3, respectively, and those of transplanted mussels were 1.8, 2.1, and 16.8, respectively. The MPI levels of them were consistent. Meanwhile, average synthetically pollution index of control mussels for 3, 6 and 9 months were 0.0218, 0.0337, and 0.0560, respectively, and those of transplanted mussels were 0.0289, 0.0218, and 0.0732, respectively. Their levels of average synthetically pollution index were without significantly different. The results indicated that the background concentrations of heavy metals in Wulihu area and Nanquan Aquatic Base were in the same levels, and both aquatic environments seemed to be without obvious metal pollution.