Taking shallow groundwater in Jinjiang City,Fujian Province for example,it was found that the classical element-matter analysis shows deficiency in calculation of correlation function,so the improved matter-element method was applied for the comprehensive assessment of shallow groundwater in Jinjiang City,and the spatial distribution was shown in maps.The assessment results demonstrated that ground water quality of most regions in the study area belonged to Grade I and II,thus the overall quality of shallow groundwater was good.The groundwater of Grade IV and V(relatively poor and extremely poor) was mainly distributed in Dongshi Town,Chendi Town,Zimao Town,and Shenhu Town,major exceeding-standard factors that influence shallow groundwater quality in the local area included TDS,Mn2+,NO3,NO2,NH4+ and Cl-,which mainly owed to invasion of seawater,original geological conditions,industrial and agricultural discharge,and human life.