Based on the daily discharge of Datong station in the downstream of the Yangtze river and the high and low tidal water level of Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Tianshenggang, Xuliujing, Gongqingwei stations in 2011, this paper studied the tidal characteristics of ocean tides from the estuary to the upper reaches of the river. The results show that the tidal mean change of 25h sliding average of each tidal station shows the same trend as the discharge, the water level changes of two tide stations in Nanjing and Zhenjiang are the most obvious. Water level change of Jiangyin, Tianshenggang, Xuliujing stations is relatively small. The tidal water level of Gongqingwei station does not change with the runoff. There is a certain correlation between the tidal stations, and the correlation between the water level of the two adjacent tidal stations is higher. With the increase of the distance between tidal stations, the correlation of water levels shows a significant downward trend. Propagation delay time of low tidal level is greater than high tidal water level. Furthermore, with the increase of distance between the tidal stations and the estuary, flood tide duration displays the trend of gradual decrease while ebb tide duration presents the trend of gradual increase.