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The relationship between monthly sea level data measured at stations located along the Chinese coast and concurrent large-scale climate forcing in the period 1960-1990 is examined. It is found that sea-level varies quite coherently along the whole coast, inspite of the geographical extension of the station set. A canonical correlation analysis between sea- level and sea-level pressure (SLP) indicates that a great part of the sea- level variability can be explained by the action of the wind stress on the ocean surface. The relationship between sea-level and sea-level pressure is analyzed separately for the summer and winter half-years. In winter, one factor affecting sea-level variability at all stations is the SLP contrast between the continent and the Pacific Ocean, hence the intensity of the winter Monsoon circulation. Other factor that affects coherently all stations is the intensity of the zonal circulation at mid-latitudes. In the summer half year, on the other hand, the influence of SLP on sea-level is less spatially coherent: the stations in the Yellow Sea are affected by a more localized circulation anomaly pattern, whereas the rest of the stations is more directly connected to the intensity of the zonal circulation. Based on this analysis statistical models (different for summer and winter) to hindcast coastal sea-level anomalies from the large-scale SLP field are formulated. These models have been tested by fitting their internal parameters in a fitting period and reproducing reasonably the sea- level evolution in an independent period. These statistical models are also used to estimate the contribution of the changes of the atmospheric circulation on sea level along the Chinese coast in an altered climate. For this purpose the ouput of 150 year-long experiment with the coupled ocean-atmosphere model ECHAM1-LSG has been analyzed, in which the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases was continously increased from 1940 until 2090, according to the Scenaro A projection of the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change. In this experiment the meridional (zonal) circulation relevant for sea-level tends to become weaker (stronger) in the winter half year and stronger (weaker) in summer. The estimated contribution of this atmopheric circulation changes to coastal sea-level is of the order of a few centimeters at the end of the integration, being in winter negative in the Yellow Sea and positive in the China Sea with opposite signs in the summer half year.