The South China Sea (SCS) is the world’s largest tropical marginal sea with an oligotrophic basin. In June 2015, a rare large phytoplankton bloom, which is ~500km long, 100km wide and lasting more than 19 days, was captured in the northern SCS basin by satellite daily chlorophyll images. Water within the bloom area had a feature of low salinity and high temperature measured by an accidental-passing cruise. Meanwhile, satellite sea level anomaly images and drifter trajectory proved there was a cyclonic eddy nearby. No typhoon and heavy rain happened in this period, so we believed the bloom was triggered by the injection of nutrient-rich Pearl River plume driven by eddy. This is the first report on eddy-entrained Pearl River plume into the SCS, which would raise a new view on irregular transportation of nutrient and carbon and its related biogeochemical influence on the oligotrophic ocean.