1 Introduction.- 1.1 Aims and Concept of the Study.- 1.2 Climate Data.- 1.3 Review of Climate Studies on China.- 2 Controlling Factors of the Climate.- 2.1 Latitude, Longitude and Location.- 2.2 Topography and Landforms.- 2.3 Distribution of Land and Sea and Nature of the Underlying Ground.- 2.4 Seasons.- 3 Circulation.- 3.1 Seasonal Pressure Distribution at Sea Level.- 3.2 Seasonally Prevailing Winds and Air Masses.- 3.3 Winter and Summer Monsoon.- 3.4 Frontology.- 3.5 The Transient Disturbances.- 4 Temperature.- 4.1 Mean Annual Air Temperature Distribution.- 4.2 Mean Seasonal Temperature Distribution.- 4.3 Annual Range and Annual Variation of Temperature.- 4.4 Onset and End of Certain Limited Temperatures and Their Duration.- 4.5 Vertical Distribution of Temperature.- 4.6 Comparison of Temperature at the Same Latitude.- 4.7 Diurnal Range of Temperature.- 4.8 Interannual Variability of Temperature.- 4.9 Historical-Climatic Change of Temperature During the last 5,000, 500 and 100 Years.- 5 Precipitation.- 5.1 Mean Annual Precipitation Distribution.- 5.2 Mean Seasonal Precipitation Distribution.- 5.3 Annual Variation of Precipitation.- 5.4 Interannual Precipitation Variability.- 5.5 Precipitation Frequency Expressed in Rainy Days.- 5.6 Precipitation Intensity.- 5.7 Rainstorms and Certain Events of Heavy Rainfall.- 5.8 Diurnal Variation of Precipitation.- 5.9 Influence of Topography and Elevation on Precipitation.- 5.10 Historical Change of Precipitation.- 5.11 Snow.- 6 Cloudiness and Sunshine.- 6.1 Mean Annual Cloudiness and January and July Amount.- 6.2 Sunshine.- 6.3 Global Radiation.- 6.4 Fog.- 7 Surface Wind.- 7.1 Mean and Extreme Wind Velocities.- 7.2 Local Wind Systems.- 8 Climate Classification and Division of China.- 8.1 General Objectives and Fundamentals of Climate Regionalization.- 8.2 China Within Global Climate Classifications.- 8.3 National Climate Classifications of China.- 8.4 Climate Division of China According to Huang Bing-wei (1986).- 9 Climate Zones of China.- 9.1 Cold Temperate Zone (I).- 9.2 Middle Temperate Zone (II).- 9.3 Warm Temperate Zone (III).- 9.4 Northern Subtropical Zone (IV).- 9.5 Middle Subtropical Zone (V).- 9.6 Southern Subtropical Zone (VI).- 9.7 Peripheral Tropical Zone (VII).- 9.8 Middle Tropical Zone (VIII).- 9.9 Southern Tropical Zone (IX).- 9.10 Alpine Plateau Zone (H0).- 9.11 Subalpine Plateau tone (HI).- 9.12 Temperate Plateau Zone (HII).- Appendix: Climate Tables.- References.

Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949there has been a rapid advance in climatology in China. The number of climatological stations has increased from less than 100 to more than of Chinese climatologists covers various 2,000, and the research work fields. The climate of China is no longer just a description of the average weather for an area or locality, but covers many fields such as the monsoon climate, the fluctuation of climate, the spatial and temporal variations of the climatic elements and physical and dynam ic climate. Four books on the climate of China, written in Chinese, have been published so far. There is, however, no excellent book written in English on the climate of China, although Volume 8 of the World Survey oj Climatology, dealing with the climates of northern and eastern Asia, edited by H. Arakawa in 1969, contains a chapter on the climate of China and Korea written by LE. M. Watts. The data sources for China are based mainly on observations from 1940-1952 and the climatological charts of China published by the Central Weather Bureau of China in 1953 and 1955. This monograph on The Climate ojChina by Prof. Dr. M. Dom ros and Prof. Peng Gongbing is the first comprehensive and advanced book in English on the climate of China.