Abstract: The Bohai Bay is an important oil and gas province of China covering an area of 200,000 sq.km.It extends over Hebei,North and West Shandong,South Liaoning,North Henan,Beijing,Tianjin,and Sea of Bohai It is a polycyclic superimposed basin.The development history of the Bohai Bay can be subdivided into four stages: 1.Late proterzoic parageosycline stage(Sinian)(Fig.1). 2.Early Palaeozoic cratonic stage(Lower Cambrian-Middle Ordovician) (Fig.2). 3.Late Palaeozoic intracratonic coal-bearing sequences stage (Middle Carboniferous-Permian)(Fig.3). 4.Mesozoic and Cenozoic taphrogenic stages:(Fig.4,5,6,)First cycle,Lower Jurassic-Middle and Upper Jurassic. Second cycle,Lower Cretaceous-Upper Cretaceous. Third cycle,Paleogene-Neogene and Quarternary. Informations obtained from the recent geophysical survey(reflection seismic data,deep refraction and gravity interpretations)and drilling records in the Bohai Bay are integrated with data available from the adjacent areas.The Tertiary rift and subsidence pattern of the Bohai Bay can be explained by the crustal extension resulting from uplifting the "Mohorovicic discontinuity" and the solid medium of the upper mantle with a width of 300 km.and a height of 8 km. During the Paleogene taphrogenic stage,three NNE trough systems, the Tanlu,Cangxian-Dongming and East of Taihang with three nearly E-W trough systems,the Beitang-Leting,Qihe-Quangyao and Huanghe were initiated as the results of regional tensile stress.(Fig.7)Central rift valleys, low angle gravity faults(Fig.8)and a series of wedge-shaped troughs were developed symmetrically surrounding the "Bohai Mantle Plume".The rift troughs extended and widened gradually.The width of broken mosaics was estimated to cover about 16% of the Pre-Mesozoic-Cenozoic fundamental blocks.Flood basalts extruded during the rifting stages from Jiyang, Huanghua and Liaohe troughs as well as from the troughs of Sea of Bohai. During the Neogene,a large saucer-shaped sedimentary basin was developed as a thick blanket covering the whole areas either of the Paleogene troughs or of the Palaeozoie-Sinian highs.(Fig.9) Oil and gas fields are mainly distributed in the Paleogene trough systems controlled by the Rifting Zones.The Tertiary structural traps such as those in Shengli and Dagang Field are large oil pools.The Sinian-Palaeozoie buried-hill traps beneath the uneonformmity of Tertiary such as those in Renqiu also form a major oil field in the land areas of Bohai Bay. The author hopes that this general review about the teetonie framework of the basin will prove to be useful to the understanding of this new and interesting petroleum province of China(Fig.10).