The paper aims to explore the change of dry-wet conditions in Hotan region under the background of the global warming,so as to provide the scientific reference for the effective use of water resources and protect the fragile ecological environment.Based on the daily meteorological data from 1960 to 2013 provided by 5 meteorological stations in Hotan region,the Penman-Monteith model was used to calculate potential evapotranspiration,and the variations of potential evapotranspiration were analyzed by the methods of Mann-Kendall abrupt test,Morlet wavelet function and so on,and the correlation analysis was used to discuss the dominant factor affecting the potential evapotranspiration.The results indicated that the variation trends of annual potential evapotranspiration was'increase-decrease-increase'from 1960s,there was a decreasing trend in general because the changing rate varied at-2.74mm/year.Seasonal potential evapotranspiration decreased in the order:summer>spring>autumn>winter,and decreased in each seasons especially in spring.The maximum value of potential evapotranspiration was observed in June,the minimum value was found in December.Change of potential evapotranspiration had the 12-year and 21-year periods,and the abrupt change happened in 1980.The decrease of wind speeds and a significant increase of precipitation in Hotan region in recent 54 years were the dominating factors leading to the decrease of potential evapotranspiration.