The regional mean surface air temperature (SAT) in China has risen with a rate of 1.3–1.7℃ (100 yr)?1 since 1900, based on the recently developed homogenized observations. This estimate is larger than those [0.5–0.8℃ (100 yr)?1] adopted in the early National Reports of Climate Change in China. The present paper reviews the studies of the long-term SAT series of China, highlighting the homogenization of station observations as the key progress. The SAT series of China in early studies showed a prominent warm peak in the 1940s, mainly due to inhomogeneous records associated with site-moves of a number of stations from urban to outskirts in the early 1950s, thus leading to underes-timates of the centennial warming trend. Parts of China were relatively warm around the 1940s but with different-phase interdecadal variations, while some parts were even relatively cool. This fact is supported by proxy data and could partly be explained by interdecadal changes in large-scale circulation. The effect of urbanization should have a minor contribution to the observed warming in China, although the estimates of such contributions for individual ur-ban stations remain controversial. Further studies relevant to the present topic are discussed.