In the autumn of 2006,a total of forty-two soil samples were collected from fourteen sampling sites,which belong to five different greenbelt types in Shanghai.They were grassland(A) in No.1 Estate of East China Normal University;woods(B,C),shrubbery(D) and grassland(E)in Shanghai Arboretum;woods(F,G),shrubbery(H) and grassland(I)in East China Normal University;woods(J)and grassland(K) in Pudong roadside greenbelt;woods(L,M) and grassland(N)in Laogang Landfill.The results revealed that soils of all the greenbelt types in Shanghai were disturbed intensively by human beings and generally polluted by heavy metals: the mean concentrations of Cu,Zn,Pb and Cd of the soil of all kinds of greenbelts were 39.84±17.37 mg·kg^-1,157.05±81.91 mg·kg^-1,41.33±23.14 mg·kg^-1,0.3425±0.1420 mg·kg^-1,respectively,with the composite pollution indexes of residential area,park,campus,roadside greenbelt and deserted land being 2.4,2.8,2.6,1.9 and 1.5,respectively.On the other hand,it also could be concluded that the way of pollution was variable in different greenbelt types: the main factor for heavy metal pollution of campus soil was vehicle,while the combination of both traffic and soil itself played a key role in the case of roadside greenbelt.On the contrary,the heavy metal pollution of deserted land,park and residential area was mainly caused by solid castoff,agricultural activities and the combination of different kinds of human beings daily behaviors.