This dataset provides a high-resolution (1 cm interval) record of grain-size distributions and derived sortable silt (SS) concentrations from the marine sediment core 16ZBS11 (19.6408° N, 117.6039° E), recovered from the northern South China Sea at a water depth of 3038 m. Grain-size measurements were conducted using a Malvern Mastersizer 2000G laser diffraction particle size analyzer. The sortable silt index (weight percentage of the 10–63 μm terrigenous fraction) was calculated to proxy the relative strength of the deep-water bottom currents. This record spans the last 22.39 ka BP, providing a detailed reconstruction of the deep South China Sea circulation reorganization since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).