Drought, one of the most devastating natural hazards, has caused tremendous damage in Southeast China. It is of great importance to evaluate and investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of drought in Southeast China. Based on the monthly precipitation and temperature data in Southeast China during 1962-2012, this study applied the standard precipitation and evaporation index (SPEI), linear analysis, Mann-Kendall test, wavelet analysis as well as rotated empirical orthogonal function (REOF) methods to analyze drought dynamics in Southeast China. The results showed that: (1) A significant rising trend of drought frequency has been detected in Southeast both at annual and seasonal scales, especially since 2000; autumn and winter presented frequent occurrence of drought in Southeast while the trend of drought in autumn has become more significant; there was no obvious mutation point in the annual SPEI; 2 to 8 years period of oscillation has been found in the area when researching the annual and seasonal variation of drought. (2) According to the front six spatial modes disassembled from REOF, we divided Southwest China into six different areas with totally different aridity and wetness features: the eastern Yunnan Plateau, Hanzhong Basin, the eastern mountainous area, the western Yunnan Plateau, Sichuan Basin and the Guizhou Plateau. Among the six different areas, the eastern Yunnan plateau has an obvious dry trend, while Hanzhong basin and eastern mountain area have a wet trend (but not obvious); also, the variation of the six areas generally exists 2-6 years period of oscillation. The study will contribute to exploring the spatial-temporal variability of dryness conditions in Southeast China while allowing a prediction of possible future drought distribution and trends under global climate change.