Understanding the past variations in extreme drought is especially beneficial to the improvement of drought resistance planning and drought risk management in China. Based on the monitoring data of meteorological stations from 1961 to 2015 and a meteorological drought index, the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index(SPEI), the spatio-temporal variations in extreme drought at inter-decadal, inter-annual and seasonal scales in China were analyzed. The results revealed that 12 months cumulative precipitation with 1/2 to 5/8 of average annual precipitation will trigger extreme drought. From the period 1961–1987 to the period 1988–2015, the mean annual frequency of extreme drought(FED) increased along a strip extending from southwest China(SWC) to the western part of northeast China(NEC). The increased FED showed the highest value in spring, followed by winter, autumn and summer. There was a continuous increase in the decadal-FED from the 1990 s to the 2010 s on the Tibetan Plateau(TP), the southeast China(SEC) and the SW. During the period 1961–2015, the number of continuous drought stations was almost the same among 4 to 6 months and among 10 to 12 months of continuous drought, respectively. It can be inferred that drought lasting 6 or 12 months may lead to more severe drought disasters due to longer duration. The range of the longest continuous drought occurred in the 21 st century had widely increased compared with that in the 1980 s and the 1990 s. Our findings may be helpful for water resources management and reducing the risk of drought disasters in China.