The variability of the summer rainfall over China is analyzed using the EOF procedure with a new parameter (namely, mode station variance percentage) based on 1951-2000 summer rainfall data from 160 stations in China. Compared with mode variance friction, the mode station variance percentage not only reveals more localized characteristics of the variability of the summer rainfall, but also helps to distinguish the regions with a high degree of dominant EOF modes representing the analyzed observational variable. The atmospheric circulation diagnostic studies with the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis daily data from 1966 to 2000 show that in summer, abundant (scarce) rainfall in the belt-area from the upper-middle reaches of the Yangtze River northeastward to the Huaihe River basin is linked to strong (weak) heat sources over the eastern Tibetan Plateau, while the abundant (scarce) rainfall in the area to the south of the middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River is closely linked to the weak (strong) heat sources over the tropical western Pacific.
