The lowstand systems tract from the last glacial maximum (i.e., oxygen isotope stage 2; c. 14-24 ka) preserved on the East China Sea continental margin is the only lowstand systems tract during the Holocene and late Pleistocene (500 ka to present) that exhibits major incision. Evidence of these incised valleys is found in both present-day bathymetry and in seismic and chirp data. Older lowstand systems tracts, however, lack major incisive features on the inner and mid shelf and exhibit laterally and vertically extensive (up to 300 km and 60 m, respectively) packages of chaotic seismic reflections attributed to frequent fluvial avulsion. Incision in these older lowstand systems tracts, where it does occur, is primarily restricted to the outer shelf, however, it is not associated with knickpoint migration from the shelf-slope break, which remained submerged during even the lowest lowstands.