ECSA’s next major Symposium, ECSA 53 will take place in partnership with the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research (SKLEC) at East China Normal University, Shanghai, China. The close links between ECSA and Elsevier (Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science) have already proven to be very beneficial and based on that historical success we propose to further intensify our long lasting co-operation. This time this co-operation is to organize a meeting in a part of the world from where we expect further excellent scientific results: China. The fast economic growth and related human activities in China during the last few decades are dramatically influencing the environment, from river catchments to estuaries and seas; and natural phenomena further amplify these effects. One of these rapidly changing systems is the Yangtze estuary, with Shanghai, the largest city in China, located close to it. The Yangtze is the 3rd largest river in the world, and constitutes an excellent case study for large scale impacts on ecosystems due to human activities and an excellent place for one of the major global events in 2013.