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An abrupt climatic change during the MIS 5a/4 transition is evident in the loess records of China (S1/L1). Proxies including geochemical elements, grain size, soil color, magnetic susceptibility and carbonate (CaCO 3 ) content indicate a warming interval, which lasted approximately 3 ka, during the MIS 5a/4 transition in both the Wangguan and Shagou loess sections, located in Sanmenxia (Henan Province) and Wuwei (Gansu Province), respectively. Both the winter and summer monsoon proxies demonstrate that this warming interval occurred at the same time in both sections (nearly 70.5–73.6 ka BP), with maximum warming from 71.4 to 72.0 ka BP. This study suggests a universal abrupt warming interval in the East Asia monsoon region at this time. Comparisons with marine, terrestrial and ice-core records indicate this event was very likely an abrupt global warming interval during the last glacial–interglacial transition.