Abstract: The spring precipitation over the Yangtze River valley is characterized by obvious variability on interdecadal and interannual timescales.The drought events over the Yangtze River valley tend to occur more frequently since 2000.The charactcristics of intcrannual variability of spring (Mareh-May) precipitation over the Yangtze River valley are analyzed by using the observed data at the 160 stations in China and the monthly National Centers for Environmental Prediction-National Center for Atmospheric Researeh rcanalysis dataset during 1951-2009.The analyzed results show that the spring precipitation over the Yangtze River valley is above(below) normal while the East Asian jet stream shifts northward(southward),a blocking high pattern persists over the Ural Mountain (Okhotsk Sea),the position of the western Pacific subtropical high is norther (souther) than that of the climatic mean state, and the southerly wind anomaly over southern China and associated water vapor transport at lower levels are intensified (weakened).Further analyses indicate the northward (southward) shift of the East Asian jet is due to the upper levels divergence (convergence) of Eliassen-Palm flux anomalies over the mid-latitudes of East Asia (90°-130°E,40°N) and the converse pattern in the south (30°N).Moreover, the El Niño(La Niña)-like sea surface temperature anomalics over the tropical Pacific Oecan is closely related to the anomalies of the atmospheric circulation which cause more (less) spring rainfall over the Yangtze River valley.