Newly discovered fossil taxa and preliminary revision of the old collection from the Bahe and Lantian formations allow a re-interpretation of the mammalian faunal sequence of the Chinese Late Miocene.The distribution of fossil taxa in the strata shows a major turnover event within the late Miocene, at a time slightly preceding the edimentological change represented by the boundary between the Bahe and Lantian Formations (ca. 7Ma). The mammal fauna postdating the change shows a strong resemblance to the classic Baodean mammal faunas of North China. Based on this turnover event a resurrection of the Bahean Land Mammal Age, predating the Baodean LMA within the late Miocene, would be possible. The Bahear/Baodean turnover event was ecological as well as taxonomic and suggests significant climatic change at this time, possibly driven by onset or intensification of the East Asian summer monsoon circulation system.