Based on the daily precipitation data of 16 rainfall stations in the source region of the Yellow River from 1961 to 2020, the linear trend method, Mann-Kendall (MK) test, sliding t test, Pettitt test, wavelet analysis and Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) method were used to analyze the variation trend and spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of annual precipitation, seasonal precipitation and flood season precipitation in the source region of the Yellow River. The results show that: (1) The annual precipitation in the source region of the Yellow River increases significantly with a trend of 10.0 mm / 10 a; in addition to the insignificant decreasing trend in winter, the precipitation in spring, summer, autumn and flood season also shows an increasing trend. (2) Except for no obvious abrupt change in spring, the corresponding abrupt change years in the whole year, summer, autumn, winter and flood season are 2015, 1998, 2018, 2016 and 2019, respectively. (3) The annual precipitation in the source region of the Yellow River has 3-7a, 6-12a, 9-13a and 16-24a change cycles, the first and second main cycles are 19a and 11a, and the two main cycles have experienced three 'high-low' changes ; there are two modes of annual precipitation, four types of precipitation performance, and the annual number of the two modes is 35 a and 13 a.The research results can provide reference for flood control and drought relief in the source region of the Yellow River and water resources scheduling of upstream reservoirs.