The mid-Piacenzian (3.264-3.025 Ma) is regarded as being the most recent warm period with atmospheric CO2 levels comparable to those of the present-day, thus the reconstruction of corresponding climate change provides a good reference for our understanding the current and future global warming. In this study, we reconstructed East Asia climate from fossil pollen using the biomization method and modern analog technique. The results show significant spatial variations in paleoclimate: warming dominates the Tibetan Plateau, whereas cooling is observed over northwestern and eastern monsoonal regions. In contrast, Pliocene Model Intercomparison Project multi-model ensemble simulations show widespread warming across East Asia, indicating significant model-data discrepancies in the northwest and eastern monsoon domains. To explore the underlying causes, we apply an energy balance decomposition to the simulated surface temperatures. We find region-specific physical mechanisms: warming over the Tibetan Plateau is mainly driven by enhanced clear-sky downward longwave radiation and vegetation-induced surface albedo reduction; cooling in the northwest is linked to increased precipitation suppressing sensible heat flux; whereas, in the eastern monsoon region, cooling is driven either by the combined effects of cloud radiative forcing and latent heat flux changes due to increased precipitation or by reduced clear-sky shortwave radiation independent of surface albedo feedback. These findings highlight the spatially non-uniform climate responses across East Asia and underscore the critical roles of distinct physical processes in shaping regional climate, offering new perspectives to bridge model-proxy gaps.