1951～1985 annual,winter and summer mean temperatures of 160 stations over China are REOF-invest igated with the resulting fields spatialy classified,leading to 7 segments for both the yearly and summer temperature compared to 4 for the winter mean,and multivariate regression extension is conducted of principal components for the areas with long-range observations.Evidence suggests greater difference in these mean fields among the different regions for the past 4 decades,indicating a warming trend in much of the country as opposed to Sichuan basin(annual average temperat ure)and mid-lower Chang jiang valleys(summer mean field),It is found that the temperature trend and phase over China agree with those in the Northern Hemisphere,disclosing a high(low)temperature regime around the 1940s(1970s).