Okinawa Trough receives a large amount of fluvial sediment transported by complex oceanographic circulations, and is an ideal location for the study of paleoceanography and paleoenvironment changes. However, our knowledge of the sediment provenance and paleoenvironment evolution in the Trough during the past 17ka is still limited. Based on high-resolution grain size, clay minerals and AMS 14C data of the Core OKI04, we present new evidences of the provenances and paleoenvironment evolution in the middle Okinawa Trough during the last 17ka. Our results indicate that clay-sized terrigenous sediment deposited in the middle Okinawa Trough is mainly from those rivers flowing into East China Sea and Yellow Sea (e.g., Yangtze and Yellow Rivers) and Taiwanese Rivers. Their contributions varied greatly in space and time during the past 17ka. From 16.5 to 13.8ka, sediment was mainly derived from the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, with little contribution from Taiwan. From 13.8 to 5.4ka, the contributions from the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers oscillated multiple times: low in 13.8–11.6ka, high in 11.6–7.6ka, and back to low in 7.6–5.4ka, whereas the pattern of Taiwanese contribution was opposite. After 5.4ka when the sea level was high and shoreline was far away from the Okinawa Trough, the Yangtze River and eastern Taiwanese Rivers became the main provenances. The contribution from the Yellow River decreased, which is probably because Yellow River mouth was far away from the middle Trough. Sediment grain size data show that two environmentally sensitive populations are 71–7μm and 7–0.5μm. The variation of the populations' mean grain size and content shows that the strength of Kuroshio Current was weak during 16.5–11.6ka, and became strong in 11.6–5.4ka, in which Tsushima Warm Current and Yellow Sea Warm Current formed around 8.5 and 6.5ka, respectively. The strength of Kuroshio Current decreased in 5.4ka and increased since 3.2ka. Based on clay mineralogical analysis, we find that the kaolinite/chlorite could be used as a new effective indicator for the East Asian Winter Monsoon's evolution in the Trough since 17ka. •Yangtze and Yellow Rivers' contribution to the southern middle Okinawa Trough since 17ka•Grain size sensitive populations are used to investigate Kuroshio Current evolution.•Kaolinite/chlorite ratio is used as a proxy on the East Asian winter Monsoon evolution.•East Asian Winter Monsoon's influence on the transport of sediment to the Trough