The evaporation rate over South China is estimated based on the Climate Prediction Center Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP) data and the NCEP/DOE reanalysis Ⅱ data from 1979 to 2007.The temporal variation of evaporation over South China and its relationship to precipitation are discussed.Climatologically,the evaporation rate over South China is the largest in July and smallest in March.In spring and summer,the evaporation rate is approximately one half of the precipitation rate.However,the evaporation rate is approximately equal to the precipitation rate in fall and winter.The year-to-year variation of the evaporation rate over South China is quite in phase with that of the precipitation rate in the period from February to May but out of phase with that of the precipitation rate in early winter.Over South China there is a pronounced decreasing trend in the evaporation in colder seasons and a positive correlation between the evaporation variation and the rainfall variation in spring.In summer,the abnormality of rainfall over South China is closely related to the anomalous evaporation over the northeastern part of the South China Sea and its eastern vicinity.In winter,the rainfall variation in South China has a close linkage with the evaporation variation in a belt area covering the eastern Arabian Sea,the Bay of Bengal,the southeastern periphery of the Plateau,the southern part of South China Sea and the central part of Indonesia.