Abstract: The paper aims to reveal the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics of evaporation in Hunan. Based on daily evaporation data observed from 1981 to 2013, the spatio-temporal change, mutation test and trends of annual and seasonal evaporation were discussed by using the linear regression, moving arithmetic average, cumulative anomaly, Mann-Kendall test and R/S analysis. The results showed that: (1) the annual evaporation presented a fluctuant increasing tendency in the 33 years, the evaporation change trends of spring, autumn and winter were similar and determined the change of the annual evaporation; (2) the evaporation in Hunan mainly concentrated in summer, in terms of the spatial distribution, the change of decadal evaporation had obvious regional characteristics; the annual and seasonal evaporation showed a decreasing tendency from the southeast to the northwest; (3) the results of M-K mutation analysis revealed that: spring, autumn, winter and annual evaporation presented an increasing tendency except summer, the abrupt change of evaporation occurred in spring, 2000 and autumn, 1983, respectively; (4) the results of R/S analysis showed that the annual evaporation presented a strongly positive persistence, and the evaporation in spring was most significant.