Based on the study of the metadata standard about related areas at home and abroad，we divide the data resource of the elements of the Yangtze waterway into 7 categories，38 small classes，with a comprehensive consideration of the waterway monitoring and data collection and the need of maintenance decisions and information service of waterway.We then establish the content framework of the metadata of the data resource of the Yangtze waterway’s elements，which includes nine aspects，such as identification information，limited information，data quality，data maintenance information，spatial information，frame of reference information，main content information，coverage information，distribution information，all of which are expressed by the object-oriented method.The core metadata is also shown.All will help promote the standardization of data resources of the elements of the Yangtze waterway and provide a technical support for highly efficient sharing.