By using the rainfall and air temperature observation data from 63 surface stations in South China during 1961—2007,the monthly dry and wet states were calculated by climatic dry and wet index,whose results could obviously tell the dry seasons from wet ones in South China.The spatial-temporal characteristics of dry and wet states over South China in recent 50 a were analyzed by trend analysis and EOF synthetical analysis.The trend analyses reflected the fact that for the whole region of South China,the climate from February to March,May and from July to August tended to be wetter,and it became dryer in April and from September to December.There were few changes in January and June.The results showed that the autumn drought was more severe while the spring drought was lighter and the summer flood was more severe in the past 50 a.EOF analysis revealed that the phases of time evolution were contrast to each other in east and west regions of South China.Synthetical analysis showed that dry and wet states were mainly affected by air-sea and air-land interactions.