<p>Precipitation events, which follow a life cycle of initiation, development, and decay, represent the fundamental form of precipitation. Comprehensive and accurate detection of these events is crucial for effective water resource management and flood control. However, current investigations on their spatio-temporal patterns remain limited, largely because of the lack of systematic detection indices that are specifically designed for precipitation events, which constrains event-scale research. In this study, we defined a set of precipitation event detection indices (PEDI) that consists of five conventional and fourteen extreme indices to characterize precipitation events from the perspectives of intensity, duration, and frequency. Applications of the PEDI revealed the spatial patterns of hourly precipitation events in China and its first- and second-order river basins from 2008 to 2017. Both conventional and extreme precipitation events displayed spatial distribution patterns that gradually decreased in intensity, duration, and frequency from southeast to northwest China. Compared with those in northwest China, the average values of most PEDIs in southeast China were usually 2–10 times greater for first-order river basins and 3–15 times greater for second-order basins. The PEDI could serve as a reference method for investigating precipitation events at global, regional, and basin scales.</p>