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To understand how past geological events and climate changes have shaped extant patterns of diversity is a central goal in biogeography. The uplift of the Himalayan-Tibetan region profoundly changed the environment in Eastern Asia, especially in the development of vast evergreen broadleaf forests (EBLFs) in the Subtropical Zone. However, when and how these forests developed remains unclear. Here we focus on Quercus section Cyclobalanopsis, a dominant component of EBLFs since the Miocene in Eastern Asia. In this study we integrated occurrence data, climate data, and a published phylogeny of 35 species of section Cyclobalanopsis with ecological niche modeling (MaxEnt) to explore the evolution of climatic tolerance of section Cyclobalanopsis since the late Eocene (34 Mya). The intensification of the East Asian monsoon system and occupation of new climatic niches by the ancient clades already present in the Himalayas and in tropical Asia may have jointly promoted the formation of subtropical EBLFs in Eastern Asia since the Miocene, especially the late Miocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]