A new available dataset of daily observational precipitation is used to study the temporal and spatial variability of extreme precipitation events for 1956-2008 in the ten large river basins of China. The maximum daily rainfall and heavy precipitation days （≥50 mm d^-1） are analyzed for the basins of the Songhua River, Liaohe River, Haihe River, Yellow River, Northwest China Rivers, Huaihe River, Yangtze River, Pearl River, Southeast China Rivers, and Southwest China Rivers. The results indicate that the maximum daily rainfall was increasing in southern river basins, while it was decreasing in northern river basins, which leads to no discernible increasing or decreasing trend in the maximum daily rainfall of whole China,especially 2001. The national averaged heavy precipitation days shows an insignificant increase. However, a rise in heavy precipitation days of southern river basins and a decline of northern river basins are observed.
