New detrital zircon ages confirm that Neoproterozoic strata of the southeastern North China Craton (NCC) are mostly of early Tonian age, but that the Gouhou Formation, previously assigned to the Tonian, is Cambrian in age. A discordant hiatus of >150-300 million years occurs across the NCC, spanning most of the late Tonian, Cryogenian, Ediacaran and early Cambrian periods. This widespread unconformable surface is akin to the ‘Great Unconformity’ seen elsewhere in the world, and highlights a major shift in depositional style from largely erosional, marked by low rates of net deposition, during the mid-late Neoproterozoic to high rates of transgressive deposition during the mid-late Cambrian. Comparison between age spectra for southeastern NCC and northern India are consistent with a provenance affinity linking the NCC and East Gondwana by ~510 Ma.