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Droughts and floods caused by extreme hydroclimatic events in East Asian monsoon area often have serious effects on human society. The Poyang Lake region has always been one of the most severe floods and droughts in East China. In order to explore the relationship between monsoon climate change and occurrence of drought/flood, this study rebuilt a high-resolution (~ 10 yr) of temperature and aridity change history of the past 1000 years. Phytolith assemblages together with the climatic indices revealed 3 phases of paleoenvironmental changes over the last millennium: (1) Medieval Warm Period (MWP) during 900–1370 AD witnessed increased monsoon precipitation and frequent floods corresponding to strong El Niño–like state; (2) Little Ice Age (LIA) during 1370–1800 AD experienced severe droughts coupling with decreased monsoon precipitation and intensive La Niña–like state; (3) Current Warm Period (CWP) during 1800–2003 AD encountered highly frequent floods related to the increased monsoon precipitation modulated by strong El Niño–like state. Our results confirmed that there is a connection between solar irradiance, ENSO activity and monsoon precipitation in the subtropical East China. On interannual-decadal timescales, due to the modulation of ENSO on the location of the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) and Meiyu Belt, the occurrences of droughts and floods affected by ENSO-related monsoon precipitation has significantly affected not only the sedimentary environment, but also human activities, which is significant for the prediction of future prevention of droughts and floods in the East Asian monsoon region against the background of global warming. • Medieval Warm Period witnessed increased monsoon precipitation and frequent floods. • Little Ice Age experienced severe droughts and decreased monsoon precipitation. • Drought and flood occurrences were modulated by ENSO-related monsoon precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]