From global perspective, there is an indication for a shift that occurred in the late 1970s with minor change occurred around 1990 and 2000 for PDO6061. Having the strong correlation with PDO, the decadal variations of ET0 in China with two turning points during 1961–2011 are likely dominated by the episodic dynamics of climatic system, indicating that the recent ET0 trends in China reflect PDO conditions and are not the consequence of a persistent reorganization of the hydro-meteorological cycle. The similar conclusions have also been obtained from the global analysis for continental evaporation2728. Consequently, the widely reported “evaporation paradox”, a counterintuitive behavior, representing that evapotranspiration decrease despite the increase of air temperature, seem to be more reasonably explained as part of a climate oscillation, at least in China33. The emerging picture of enhanced of ET0 in southern China highlights the possible threat posed by acceleration of the terrestrial hydrological cycle to water resources management and food security in an enhanced-greenhouse-affected climate.