ince of China were described; from South China we have selected the sections at Yichang and Huayinshan as most typical of platform deposi- tion. Chen et al (1995, Fig.2) show a shallow to deep water gradient across the South China plate. cyclopygid biofacies lie at the edge of the basin to the South. For North China we have selected the Zibo section, Shandong Province (column 26 of Chen et al); for central Australia the stratigraphy and section is taken from the southern Georgina basin (Shergold, 1985) In general, the succession in southern Thailand appears to be similar to that of the Yangtze plat- form; thick, calcareous lower Ordovician is fol- lowed by a comparatively condensed younger Ordovician succession; the Pagoda Limestone li- thology is identically developed in both areas; and the Hirnantia fauna is a thin intercalation within graptolitic deposition which closes the Ordovician. However, Yangtze successions are, in general, much thinner particularly by compar- ison with the southern Shan States But the se- quence evidence would overall support the no- tion of Sibumasu as adjacent to, if not actually docked with, South China. Aligning deep-water marginal biofacies would imply that the Malay- sian end of Sibumasu lay close to what is now Hainan Island.