The Dongfanghong hornblende gabbro is located in the western part of the Wandashan Orogen and to the east of the Jiamusi Block in NE China. It was emplaced into Early Paleozoic oceanic crust (i.e. Dongfanghong ophiolite) at ~ 275 Ma and both later collided with the eastern margin of the Jiamusi Block. The Dongfanghong gabbro is sub-alkaline with high Na₂O contents and is characterized by enrichment in light rare earth elements (LREE), large ion lithosphile elements (LILE), Sr, Eu, and Ba, and depletion in high field strength elements (HFSE). The enriched isotopic signatures (⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr_i = ~ 0.7065, εNd(t) = ~− 0.5, ²⁰⁸Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_i = ~ 38.05, ²⁰⁷Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_i = ~ 15.56, ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb_i = ~ 18.20 and zircon εHf(t) = ~+ 5.8) indicate an enriched mantle (EM2) source, with some addition of continental material. It has arc geochemical affinities similar to Permian arc igneous rocks in the eastern margin of the Jiamusi Block, the Yakuno Ophiolite in SW Japan, arc rocks along the western margin of the North America Craton, and also the Gympie Group in eastern Australia. All these features, together with information from tectonic discrimination diagrams, suggest that the Dongfanghong gabbro formed in an immature island arc. The spatial configuration of ~ 290 Ma immature continental arc rocks in the eastern part of the Jiamusi Block and the ~ 275 Ma immature island arc Dongfanghong gabbro in the Wandashan Orogen to the east is best explained by eastward arc retreat and slab roll-back of the Paleo-Pacific Plate. This model is also supported by the Carboniferous–Permian stratigraphic transition in the Jiamusi Block from oceanic carbonate rocks to coal-bearing terrestrial clastic rocks and andesites. We thus suggest that both Paleo-Pacific subduction and roll-back occurred in the Early Permian along the eastern margin of Asia.