Following the early Eocene climatic optimum some 50 million years ago, the marine paleoclimate record indicates that a long interval of global cooling took place, punctuated by a series of short-term warming reversals and culminating with the glaciation of Antarctica at the Eocene-Oligocene transition. We investigate a saline lake record from the Qianjiang and Jinghezhen formations, Jianghan Basin, China for the corresponding continental climate response. A 20.25 Myr long astronomical time scale is constructed based on 405-kyr orbital eccentricity cycle tuning of gamma ray (GR) series measured from the Qianjiang and Jinghezhen formations. The halite-rich interval between 41-40.4 Ma correlates well with the Middle Eocene Climate Optimum recorded in the deep-sea δ 18 O record, confirming predominantly halite deposition during the warming. Silt-mudstone-rich intervals were deposited during ∼2.4 Myr orbital eccentricity minima. The evidence indicates a history of alternating fresh water (humid/cool) and saline water (dry/hot) lake cycles paced by ∼100 kyr orbital eccentricity cycles. Analysis of GR series from the deepest part of the lake indicates strong astronomical forcing of halite deposition throughout the Middle-Late Eocene, and a shift to siliciclastic deposition and cooler climates at ∼33.9 Ma. Early Oligocene wet/cool climate in the Jianghan Basin signals East Asian summer monsoon intensification, and a reduction from northwest winter monsoon in response to Tibetan Plateau uplift. Northern Hemisphere summer insolation minima in the Middle-Late Eocene with temperatures that are 4.6 °C higher than present may provide an analogy for near-future climate change in Jianghan Basin.