The Zhaitang loess section, located in the western suburbs of Beijing has yielded a very high resolution magnetic susceptibility record for the last-glacial and interglacial period. All substages can be clearly defined in marine isotope stage (MIS) 5 (SI) and even also in substage 5a, demonstrating comparable detail with Vostok and parts of the GRIP ice record. Rapid climate shifts during the Eemian period may have extended to continental Asia, but exerted only a weak influence on the Zhaitang record. Abrupt climate transitions (5b/5c/5d/5e) recorded in this section from the NE edge of the Plateau show more detrial than most other Chinese loess records. These three well defined peaks in substage 5a, imply sensitivity of the east Asian monsoon to rapid hemisphere-scale climate change and the prospect of finding more information on orbital and non-orbital events in the loess sequence. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union