samples from Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 1146 in the northern South China Sea (SCS)were analyzed for grain-size distributions using grain-size class vs. standard deviation method and end-member modeling algorithm (EMMA) in order to investigate the evolution of the East Asian monsoon since about 20 Ma. 10-19 μm/1.3-2.4 μm, the ratio of two grain-size populations with the highest variability through time was used to indicate East Asian winter monsoon intensity relative to summer monsoon. The mass accumulation rate of the coarsest end member EM1 (eolian), resulting from EMMA, can be used as a proxy of winter monsoon strength and Asian inland aridity, and the ratio of EM1/(EM2+EM3) as a proxy of winter monsoon intensity relative to summer monsoon. The combined proxies show that a profound enhancement of East Asian winter monsoon strength and winter monsoon intensity relative to summer monsoon occurred at about 8 Ma, and it is possible that the summer monsoon simultaneously intensified with winter monsoon at 3 Ma. Our results are well consistent with the previous studies in loess, eolian deposion in the Pacifc, radiolarians and planktonic foraminifera in the SCS. The phased uplift of the Himalaya-Tibetan Plateau may have played a significant role in strengthening the Asian monsoon at 8 Ma and 3 Ma. grain size, eolian dust, East Asian monsoon, South China Sea, ODP Leg184East Asian monsoon circulation is driven by differential heating between the WPWP (western Pacific warm pool) and the Asian continent. Seanally reversing summer-and winter-monsoon winds drive seasonal precipitation and runoff regimes which determine, in part, the soil and vegetation characteristics of eastern Asia [1] . Past fluctuations of the East Asian winter and summer monsoons over long time scales (>1 Ma) have been studied using the loess-paleosol sequences in the Chinese Loess Plateau [2][3][4][5][6] . By comparison, similar studies of deep-sea sediments in the South China Sea (SCS), which is the main sediment sink for fluvial material from the East Asian continent and an ideal location for recording the erosional response to both winter and summer monsoons were hampered by the lack of long sediment cores until six sites were drilled in two areas in the SCS during ODP Leg 184 [7] . Until now, most of the paleoclimatic studies which permit the reconstruction of long-term evolution of the East Asian paleo-monsoon from sediments in the SCS are mainly based on studies of radiolarians [8] , foraminifera [9,10] , stable isotopes [11][12][13] , sediment geochemistry [14] and even broad scale climatic and botanical zones of China [15] . However, evidence of longterm evolution of the East Asian monsoon over tectonic