Zircon U-Pb ages of 163.8–100.4 Ma and 146.6–134.5?Ma are obtained for the granitoids from the Pearl River mouth basin, and from southern Guangdong Province, respectively. These new dating data accord well with the crystallization ages of Yanshanian granitoids broadly in the Nanling. The active continental margin of South China, as revealed by a combination of zircon U-Pb data, underwent a key granitoid-dominated magmatism in 165–100?Ma. Its evolution varied temporally, and spatially, registering under control of the paleo-Pacific slab subduction. The granitoids that occurred in 165–150?Ma broadly from the South China Sea to the Nanling are preferably related to two settings from volcanic-arc to back-arc extension, respectively. The activities of Cretaceous granitoids migrated from the southeastern Guangdong (148–130?Ma) to the Pearl River Mouth basin (127–112?Ma), corresponding to the model of a retreating subduction. The subduction-related granitoid magmatism in South China continued until 108–97?Ma. A tectonic transformation from slab-subduction to extension should occur at ~100?Ma.