Discrepancies exist in global temperature evolution from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present between model simulations and proxy reconstruction. This debate is critical for understanding and evaluating current global warming on a longer timescale. Here we report a branched GDGTs-based temperature reconstruction from the sediments of Huguangyan Maar Lake in southeast China and validate it using historical documentary evidence and instrumental data. The reconstructed mean annual air temperature (MAAT) indicates distinct changes during the last deglaciation (Oldest Dryas, Bølling-Allerød, Younger Dryas). During the Holocene, temperatures gradually increased from the end of the Younger Dryas to ~7.0 ka BP, followed by a decrease in recent decades. However, our terrestrial temperature record differs from model simulations and proxy sea surface temperature records of the Holocene. We conclude that ice volume or ice sheet is the most prominent forcing that controlled the regional temperature evolution from the Last Glacial Maximum to the beginning of the middle Holocene; while the temperature variations during the middle and late Holocene were mainly regulated by several possible factors, such as oceanic and atmospheric circulation, and external drivers (solar and volcanic activity).