[Background] The Loess Plateau is one of the most serious soil erosion areas in China, and it is also an important region of ecological management and constructing ecological defense. It has proved that the small watershed is the basic unit of flood control and soil conservation in the Loess Plateau, and it plays a basic role in the construction of the ecological barrier on the Loess Plateau. Rainfall is the main erosion force of soil erosion on the Loess Plateau, and it is also an important guarantee for the ecological environment construction in the Loess Plateau, and also an important factor for the social and economic development for the river basin. The temporal and spatial variation characteristics of different grades precipitation are particularly important to assess the risk of soil erosion and geological hazards. The Malian River Basin is located in Longdong Loess Plateau, belonging to the middle reaches of the Yellow River, is a first tributary of the Jinghe River. Therefore, the variation characteristics of precipitation in the Malian River Watershed in the Loess Plateau is worthy of further study of the problem. [Methods] Daily rainfall data from 1961 to 2010 at Xifeng National Base Station, Huan County National Basic Station and other 5 general stations were collected among the Malian River Basin. In order to ensure the quality of the data, the PMF method was used to examine homogenization. The statistical characteristics of precipitation in the river basin were studied using the basic meteorological and hydrological statistics method. The variation trend, abrupt change and periods of precipitation were analyzed by applying climatic tendency rate, M-K test, sliding T test, cumulative anomaly and Morlet wavelet transform. Meanwhile, change characteristics of the days and intensity about erosive rainfall and precipitation were studied. [Results] Mean annual precipitation in the Malian River Basin was 482 mm and precipitation in four seasons respectively accounted for 18%, 53%, 27%, and 2% of the annual precipitation, erosive precipitation accounted for 57% of the annual precipitation, precipitation variation coefficient was 0.19. The guarantee rate of precipitation over 400 mm in the river basin was 72%, guarantee rate of more than 500 mm was 38%. Precipitation and erosive rainfall showed a decreasing trend in the Malian River Basin during 1961 2010, the spring and autumn precipitation showed a decreasing trend, winter precipitation showed increasing trend. The abrupt change of precipitation was around 1992, the abrupt change of precipitation in autumn was the earliest in 1976, and the spring was around 1992 in Malian River Basin. The annual and seasonal precipitation had main cycles of 19 a, 11 a, 4 6 a, and 2 a. Moderate rain and light rain were the main form of precipitation in Malian River Basin. The reduction of precipitation significantly resulted from moderate and light rain during 1961 2010. There was an increased trend in intensity of precipitation and erosive rainfall during 1961 2010. [ Conclusions] The precipitation intensity has increased, thus the potential risk of soil erosion has not weakened. Soil and water conservation and desertification prevention for the Malian River Basin cannot be slacked off. Future precipitation changes are related to the ecological barrier construction in Malian River Basin, it is worth of continuously paying attention to the problem.