Measurement of clay mineralogy at ODP Site 1146 in the northern South China Sea (SCS) indicates that illite, chlorite, and kaolinite contents increased during glacials and smectite content increased during interglacials. The smectite/(illite+chlorite) ratio and the smectite abundance were determined as mineralogical indicators for the East Asian monsoon evolution. At a 10 ka timescale, prevailing southeasterly surface oceanic currents during interglacials transported more smectite from the south and east areas to the north, showing a strengthened summer monsoon circulation, whereas dominated counter-clockwise surface currents during glacials carried more illite and chlorite from Taiwan as well as from the Yangtze River via the Luzon Strait to the northern SCS, indicating a strongly intensified winter monsoon. Based on a 100 ka timescale, a linear correlation between the smectite/(illite+chlorite) ratio and the sedimentation rate reflects that the winter monsoon has prevailed in the northern SCS in the intervals 2000—1200 ka and 400—0 ka and the summer monsoon did the same in the interval 1200—400 ka. The evolution of the summer monsoon provides an almost linear response to the summer insolation of Northern Hemisphere, implying an astronomical forcing of the East Asian monsoon evolution. Measurement of clay mineralogy at ODP Site 1146 in the northern South China Sea (SCS) indicates that illite, chlorite, and kaolinite contents increased during glacials and smectite content increased during interglacials. The smectite / (illite + chlorite) ratio and the smectite abundance were determined as mineralogical indicators for the East Asian monsoon evolution. At a 10 ka timescale, prevailing southeasterly surface oceanic currents during interglacials transport more smectite from the south and east areas to the north, showing a strengthened summer monsoon circulation, dom dom counter-clockwise surface based on a 100 ka timescale, a linear correlation between the smectite / (illite + chlorite) ratio and the sedimentation rate reflects that the winter monsoon has dominant in the nor thern SCS in the intervals 2000-1200 ka and 400-0 ka and the summer monsoon did the same in the interval 1200-400 ka. The evolution of the summer monsoon provides an almost linear response to the summer insolation of Northern Hemisphere, implying an astronomical forcing of the East Asian monsoon evolution.