In China, a vast land spanning many degrees of latitude with complicated terrain, climate varies radically. China has a variety of temperature and rainfall zones, including continental monsoon areas. In winter most areas become cold and dry, in summer hot and rainy. In Xinjiang Province, people have the saying, "We wear a leather coat in the morning and gauze at noon; eat watermelon around a fire."

Different kinds of China Weather:
   North-Central China (Beijing, Xian) is similar in climate to Nebraska and Kansas, with less snow and rain during the winter. Late winter and early spring bring regular dust storms and haze.

   South-central China (Shanghai, Guangzhou) is comparable to the Gulf Coast states, through winter storms do not occur as often. Summer is hot and humid with frequent rain. Winter is shorter, cooler, and often overcast with drizzle.

   Northeast China (Shenyang, Harbin) is similar to Minnesota. Summer is hot and dry, and winter is long and very cold.

   Xinjiang (Urumqi, Kashgar) experiences severe climatic conditions with dramatic daily temperature swings. Summer can get very hot during the day, but generally cools off at night. Similarly, winter temperatures warm up during the day but plummet at night.

   Tibet (Lhasa, Shigatse) also sees marked changes. When the sun shines, temperatures reach the mid-80s in the summer and the mid-60s in the winter. At night or when it rains or snows, temperatures drop significantly. Precipitation is minimal in the winter; summer showers are more common but occur mainly at night.

Precipitation
   Precipitation in China is basically regular each year. From the spatial angle, the distribution shows that the rainfall is increasing from southeast to northwest, because the eastern seashores are influenced more than inland areas by the summer monsoon. In the place with the most rainfall, Huoshaoliao in Taipei , the average annual precipitation can reach over 6,000mm. The rainy seasons are mainly May to September. In some areas, especially in the dry northwest, changes in precipitation every year are greater than in the coastal area. Viewed spatially, South China, with a longer rainy season, has more rainfall than the North. Based on precipitation, the area divides into four parts: wet area, semi-wet area, semi-dry area and dry area. The first two are distributed alongside the Qinling Mountain-Huaihe River division. The 400mm annual isohyet lies along the Daxing'an Mountains-Great Wall-Gangdisi Mountains, and divides the semi-wet and semi-dry areas. The last two areas support a very small population. Their boundary, the 200mm annual isohyet, is approximately via middle Inner Mongolia and the Helan and Qilian Mountains to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

Monsoon
   In summer, a southeast monsoon from the western Pacific Ocean and a southwest monsoon from the equatorial Indian Ocean blow onto the Chinese mainland. These monsoons are the main cause of rainfall. Starting in April and May, the summer rainy season monsoons hit the southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan, including the cities of Shenzhen , Shantou , Nanning , etc. In June, the rains blow northward, and South China gets more rainfall with the poetic name, plum-rain weather, since this is the moment when plums mellow. North China greets its rainy season in July and August, says farewell in September; gradually in October the summer monsoons retreat from Chinese land. Eastern China experiences many climate changes, while the northwest area is a non-monsoon region.