The Visean is the second stage of the Mississippian, follows the Tournaisian and precedes the Serpukhovian stage. It correlates with the upper Osagean, the Meramecian and lower Chesterian stage in regional North America scale and the Jiusian and Shangsian stages in the regional China scale.The base of the Visean stage is at the first appearance of the fusulinid species Eoparastaffella simplex, within the foraminiferal phylogenetic lineage from Eoparastaffella rotunda to Eoparastaffella simplex. The GSSP for the base of Visean stage is at the base of bed 83 in Pengchong section, Guangxi, southern China. The Pengchong section is continuously exposed over about 110m, consists mainly of Pengchong Member of Luzhai Formation, and covers a rather large stratigraphic interval from the upper part of the conodont S. anchoralis zone to the Lochriea commutate zone.The conodont Gnathodus homopunctatus is a second marker for the Tournaisian/Visean boundary, which enters 6m higher in bed 86.