Based on daily precipitation data of five representative meteorological stations in Shijiazhuang area during 1961-2014,the spatial and temporal change characteristics of precipitation were analyzed by using a variety of statistical methods.Results show that annual precipitation in Shijiazhuang area begins to fall from the 1970s and reaches the lowest in the 1980s,then increases slightly in the 1990s,and begins to decline in the 21st century.The precipitation reduction in the 1970s is mainly due to the rainfall decrease in spring and autumn,while the decrease in the 1980s and slight increase in the 1990s are mainly attributed to the precipitation variation in summer.The annual precipitation in Shijiazhuang area fluctuates obviously with the most precipitation of 1 038.4 mm in 1963 and the least one of 276.2 mm in 1965.In recent 54 years,the annual precipitation in Shijiazhuang decreases slightly with a linear trend of -11.0 mm/(10 a).As for its spatial distribution,the annual precipitation increases in the north,and decreases in other parts of the city,yet without obvious trend.And for its temporal variation,the precipitation increases in spring with a linear trend of 0.9 mm/(10 a),while decreases in other seasons with the linear trends of -11.9 mm/(10 a),-1.1 mm/(10 a),-0.3 mm/(10 a) for summer,autumn,and winter,respectively,all of which are not obvious.Generally,the reduction of annual precipitation in Shijiazhuang can be due to the precipitation decrease in summer;there were seasonal and regional characteristics in the spatial distribution of the precipitation change trends in four seasons in Shijiazhuang;and significant cycles exist in seasonal precipitation variation in Shijiazhuang.