By using the 40a monthly air temperature data during 1961-2000 at 60 stations in Jiangsu Province,the inter-decadal variabilities of winter (DJF) air temperature and their related backgrounds i.e. the features of the spatial distribution of atmospheric general circulation and sea surface temperature(SST) are studied.And the possible relationship between winter air temperature in Jiangsu Province and the global air temperature on the inerdecadal scale is also investigated.Results show that:1)the variations of winter air temperature at the 60 stations in Jiangsu are very consistent in space;2)In recent 40 years,the winter air temperature in Jiangsu shows,significant inter-decadal variation with the cold period in 1961-1985 and the warm period in 1986-1999;3)There are significant differences in atmospheric general circulation and SST between the cold and warm periods,and the inter-decadal variations of the winter air temperature and the East Asian winter monsoon(EAWM) are closely related to the inter-decadal background of SSTA;4)The anomaly of Jiangsu winter air temperature is inagreement with that of global air temperature on the interdecadal scale,and the evident increase in Jiangsu winter air temperature is completely consistent with the global warming.The interdecadal variation of Jiangsu winter air temperature can be regarded as the response of regional temperature to the global warming.