【Objective】The objective of this paper is to analyze the spatiotemporal response of vegetation to precipitation variation in China.【Method】The analysis was based on GIMMS-NDVI dataset and high-resolution gridded climate dataset from 1982 to 2015, using second-order partial correlation and lag-correlation method. 【Result】From 19822015, the mean NDVI over plant growing season showed a significant increase, at annual rate of 0.000 7. While there was an inter-annual variation in precipitation, there was no a significant trend. The partial correlation coefficient between NDVI and precipitation varied spatially, with vegetation dynamic in Inner Mongolia correlated strongly with precipitation fluctuation. Generally, vegetation growth was impacted strongly by precipitation in previous month as well as the accumulated precipitation over previous three months, but was only slightly correlated to precipitation in the same month.【Conclusion】Vegetation variation in semi-arid region was impacted by precipitation variation more significantly than in other regions. Different vegetation types responded differently to precipitation variation, and compared to shrubland and grassland, the growth of forest was least influenced by precipitation variation and there was a delay in its response to precipitation change.