During the past three decades, the social/natural environment and lifestyle of people in China have undergone a marked transformation to westernization. However, age-standardized cancer rates have not been determined to any great extent in China. In this study, we tracked the cancer incidence between 1981 and 2000 in Tianjin, to identify the changes in incidence associated with social and economic changes. Cancer incidence data were collected by the Tianjin Cancer Registry. Sex, age, and organ site-specific incidence trends were analyzed by the "join-point regression" method. Overall crude cancer incidence increased, but the age-standardized incidence slightly decreased during the study period. The incidence of lung cancer increased between 1981 and 1996 but decreased between 1996 and 2000. The incidences of uterine, esophageal, stomach, and liver cancers decreased. However, the incidences of colorectal, pancreatic, breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers all increased during the study period. There was an aging-related increase in the overall crude cancer incidence and an alteration in the distribution of cancer types in Tianjin. The incidences of cancer types that are more prevalent in developed countries appeared to increase in China, whereas the incidences of cancer types that are more prevalent in developing countries appeared to decline.