Heat wave has become a severe problem over China in recent year. Based on daily air temperature data from 719 meteorological stations in China in the period of 1961-2012, the heat wave events were classified into three levels by duration: weak HW, medium heat wave and strong heat wave. This paper describes the spatial and temporal characteristics among three levels of heat wave over China during the period 1961-2013. The results showed that the number of hot days displayed a weakening trend from the 1960s to the early 1990s, followed by a strengthening trend from the late 1990s up to now. Long-term linear trends in hot days had significant regional differences, for instance, the number of hot days in southwest and southern China growing sharply than other regions; three levels heat wave occurred in different regions that weak heat wave usually occurred in the northwest and middle part of China while strong heat wave mainly happened in the southern part of China. When it came to the first day of heat wave, weak heat wave occurred earliest in China, and it happened around July 3rd while medium heat wave and strong heat wave always started on July 13th and July 14th, respectively. In general, the earliest heat wave was always found in southwest China while the last ones usually occurred in southern part and southwest China. Increasing trend of three levels heat wave were found in the entire country, except for southwest China. The trend of the last day of heat waves showed significant difference between northern and southern part of China. The last day of weak and medium heat wave occurred later in the south China, while strong heat wave happened earlier in north China.