East China is one of the most densely populated and agriculture-based regions in China. Local spring precipitation is crucial to the people’s livelihood and social economic development. Using the observed and reanalysis datasets for the period 1958–2019, this study revealed an asymmetric effect of El Ni?o—Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the following spring precipitation over East China. During the years with positive ENSO phases, a strong positive correlation between spring precipitation and the preceding winter ENSO sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies existed over Zhejiang and Jiangsu province. For the years with negative ENSO phases, such a strong positive correlation shifts westwards to Jiangxi and Hunan province. To be specific, the El Ni?o events usually result in a precipitation surplus in the decaying spring over Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Fujian province, while the La Ni?a events usually lead to a precipitation deficit in the decaying spring over Jiangxi and Hunan province. This is attributed to the nonlinear effects of ENSO on the atmospheric circulation. Compared with El Ni?o, the abnormal center of La Ni?a evidently extends westwards, inducing a westward movement of the anomalous low-level atmospheric circulation, which eventually results in a westward-shifted effect on the following spring precipitation over East China. Our findings emphasize the nonlinear responses of spring precipitation over East China to ENSO. This has important implications for the seasonal climate predictions over East China.