As a key global climate and dust archive, the nature of Chinese loess deposition remains debated. We investigate chronostratigraphic variability of eolian deposits in upwind regions of the modern Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) and reconstruct dust dynamics that potentially affects loess deposition downwind. The strata consist of alternating layers of typical loess, well-sorted sand, and sandy loess, with obvious unconformities occurring at the transitions from loess to sand. We suggest that pre-existing typical loess was eroded by wind, providing homogeneous dust for loess on the CLP. The interbedded well-sorted sand and loess suggest that proximal deserts have greatly expanded and contracted repeatedly, strongly affecting dust emission and transport and thus leading to significant changes in dust accumulation rates on the CLP. Our results suggest active dust processes in upwind regions of the CLP have major implications for using loess sequences to deduce climate and dust changes.