Since 1980s, river characteristics in the river network of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong Province, China, have significantly changed due to large-scale sand mining. Based on measured data, the recent evolution of river characteristics is analyzed from several aspects, such as riverbed evolution, flow and sediment conditions, variations of water level at equal water discharge, variations of flow and sediment diversion in the Xijiang and Beijiang rivers, the volume of river channel, and flood carrying capacity. The results show that since 1980s the riverbed of the river network has downcut severely, and the volume of coming water has slightly changed, while the volume of coming sediment has dramatically declined. Besides, the water level at equal water discharge has significantly dropped, and the flow and sediment diversion in the Xijiang and Beijiang rivers have been adjusted by river sand mining. Moreover, the flood carrying capacity has improved because the volume of river channel has increased. With the decrease of largescale sand dredging operations, river evolution in the river network turned into a new equilibrium stage after 2005.