The origin, age and evolution of the Precambrian metamorphic basement of southern China provide useful insights into early crustal development. Here, we present new laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) U–Pb age data for detrital zircons from five samples of the Precambrian metamorphic basement of the Xiangshan uranium orefield. Two of these samples, from the northern Xiangshan volcanic basin, yielded a total of 140 U–Pb ages that cluster within the Neoproterozoic (773–963 Ma; 79.3% of data points), with the rest being scattered through the Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic, along with a single Archean age. These ages indicate that this basement material is associated with the Cathaysia Block. In comparison, the 172 concordant ages from the other three samples from the southern part of the Xiangshan volcanic basin cluster within the Neoproterozoic (767–944 Ma; 59.8%) as well as the Proterozoic (37.8%) and the Archean (2502–2712 Ma; 14.5%). These samples are also free of zircons with Grenvillian ages, indicating that these units are associated with the southeastern Yangtze Block. Combining these data with the geochemistry of these units, which suggests that the metamorphosed sedimentary rocks within the northern and southern parts of the Xiangshan basin have a common component from a magmatic island arc that formed during the early Neoproterozoic, we infer that the basin was located along the boundary between the Cathaysian and Yangtze blocks. In addition, the zircons within the samples from the southern and northern parts of the Xiangshan basin show different pre-Neoproterozoic (963 Ma) age populations but similar post-Neoproterozoic zircon populations, indicating that the amalgamation of the Cathaysian and Yangtze blocks occurred after the Neoproterozoic (960 Ma), with magmatism peaking at 830 Ma and rifting starting at ~770 Ma, leading to the subsequent deposition (from bottom to top) of the Shenshan, Kuli, and Shangshi formations.