The sea surface paleotemperature of the South China Sea (SCS) is estimated quantitatively, based on the quantitative analysis of planktonic foraminiferal faunas recovered from piston cores V36‐06‐3, V36‐06‐5, and SO49‐KL8 on the northern continental slope. The results lead to a reconstruction of the history of paleocirculation patterns during the last 200,000 years. The postglacial and interglacial transbasinal circulation pattern was replaced by a semienclosed basin flow pattern during glacial episodes. Lowered sea level transformed the SCS into a semienclosed basin with the only passageway to the open ocean in its northeastern corner. The East Asian Monsoon, which governs circulation patterns in the SCS both today and during the late Quaternary, created both clockwise (summer) and counterclockwise (winter) surface gyres during glacials. The inflow of tropical surface water‐masses from both the Pacific and Indian oceans decreased or was completely cut off from this marginal sea, causing a greater decrease in glacial sea surface temperature than in the open ocean of the same latitude. Inferred increased influence of Pacific Temperate Waters and decreased influence of Tropical‐Subtropical Waters are confirmed by changes in the planktonic foraminiferal assemblages. Glacial‐interglacial fluctuation in sea surface temperature (SST) (6.8–9.3°C for winter and 2–3°C for summer), as well as the seasonality (4–6°C for postglacial and interglacials and 9–10°C for glacials), are much greater than the adjacent open western Pacific, reflecting the amplification of the climatic