An analysis is made of the climatological and variation characteristics of dust storms over the northern China on the basis of the data from 340 observation stations over the northern China from 1961 to 2003. The affected area of dust events is divided into three subregions: Northwest China, North China, and Northeast China and the regional climatic characteristics of dust storm eve nts are analyzed. The number of storm days shows a downward trend for most observation stations in the study area. Dust storms occurs more frequently in the western part of the northern China than in the eastern part, more in spring than in the other parts, more in the daytime than in the nighttime, and most frequently between 14:00 and 16:00 local time. Dust storms occur most frequently between 15:00 and 16:00 for Northwest China and around 14:00 in North China and Northeast China, more frequently in summer in Northwest China as compared to the other regions. There exist significant regional features in the daily, monthly and seasonal changes of dust storms in the northern China, most obviously in Northwest China.