The oxidation of para-xylene was studied in a jet-stirred reactor at atmospheric pressure under dilute conditions. New experimental results were obtained over the high-temperature range 900–1300 K, and variable equivalence ratios (0.5⩽Φ⩽1.5). They consisted of concentration profiles of the reactants, stable intermediates, and final products, measured by sonic probe sampling followed by on-line GC-MS and off-line GC-TCD-FID and GC-MS analyses. The oxidation of para-xylene under these conditions was modeled using a detailed chemical kinetic reaction mechanism (160 species and 1175 reactions, most of them reversible) deriving from a previous scheme proposed for the ignition, oxidation, and combustion of simple aromatics (benzene, toluene, styrene, n-propylbenzene). The proposed kinetic scheme was also successfully tested against the ignition delays of p-xylene–oxygen–argon mixtures, and the combustion of p-xylene in a low-pressure methane–oxygen–nitrogen flame doped with p-xylene, confirming its validity. Sensitivity analyses and reaction path analyses, based on rates of reaction, were used to interpret the results.