In this study, the spatio-temporal distribution characteristics of the climatic seasons in China from 1961 to 2016 are analyzed by using the climatic seasonal division standard (QX/T152-2012) issued by the China Meteorological Administration, the Chinese daily surface temperature dataset (V2.0, 0.5°×0.5°) issued by the National Meteorological Information Center, and the revised multiple regression model. The linear trend and extreme-point symmetric mode decomposition method (ESMD) are used to analyze the variations in the distribution area, durations, and start date of the climatic seasons. The main results are as follows. There are four climatic seasonal regions in China, namely, the perennial-winter, no-winter, no-summer and discernible regions, while there are no perennial-summer or perennial-spring regions. Considering the area variation of each region, the range of the perennial-winter region is significantly narrower, and the area of no-winter region increases, while the areas of no-summer and discernible regions have no significant changes. The regions with significant changes in the normal climatic seasons are mainly distributed in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Inner Mongolia Plateau. The regions with significant changes in the durations of the climatic seasons are mainly found in the northern China. The advance of the summer start date has led to a significant increase in the durations of climatic seasons in the central and western Inner Mongolia, Hexi Corridor and Xinjiang, and the postponement of the winter start date has resulted in a decrease in the number of winter days in these areas. In general, the climatic seasons at high altitudes in western China have more significant changes than those in the eastern coastal plains. Overall, the distribution and changes of the climatic seasons in China are revealed by this investigation, which could provide a reference for operational weather forecasting and climatic region division.