Abstract: The method of Season-reliant EOF (S-EOF) is applied to analyze monthly temperature data collected at 160 stations in China from 1951-2014 and the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data during the same period. The temporal-spatial variation of winter temperature and its relation with atmospheric circulation anomalies are studied. The results show that on the monthly scale, winter temperature in China often exhibits opposite pattern between prophase and anaphase of the winter, and even alternates between cold and warm. There are three typical patterns of winter air temperature variation in China, i.e., the pattern of consistent change in the whole winter, the reversed pattern between prophase and anaphase, and the warm-cold alternation pattern. When the Siberia high is strong (weak) in winter, temperature is cold (warm) correspondingly; when the land-sea thermal difference changes from strong to weak, the Siberia high intensity changes from strong to weak, too; when the East Asian westerly jet is relatively stable and strong and moves from south to north, the winter air temperature varies from cold to warm; when the seasonal variation of the atmospheric circulation is large, especially when the sea level pressure and active centers at 500 hPa geopotential height change frequently, and the Siberia high alternates between weak and strong on the monthly scale, the temperature in winter undergoes cold-warm-cold alternation.