Abstract: China has undergone a complicated history of geological evolution onshore and offshore from Sinian to the Recent,during which period three basic types of oil and gas basins have been formed.1.Tension basins in eastern China-With the subduction of the Pacific plate under the Eurasian plate,the continental crust in the eastern part of China was subject to regional tension stresses that caused the breakdown,spreading and subsidence of the basement.A series of intraplate rift-subsided basins occurred to the east of Daxinganling-Taihangshan-Yangtze Gorge which are genetically related to the uplifting of the upper mantle.Basins in Bohai Bay,northern Jiangsu,southern Yellow Sea and Jianghan are of the polycyclic rift-subsided type,while those in Songliao,Nanyang-Miyang and Beibu Bay are monocyclic.The East Sea basin and the west Taiwan basin are continental marginal basins (back-arc basins) included in the west Pacific trench-arc-basin system.Basins in the mouth of Pearl River and in the Yingge Sea are located along the northern divergent margin of the spreading plate in the South China Sea.2.Oil and gas basins in central China-Located in the transition zone between the Pacific plate belt and the Tethye-Himalaya tectonic belt,these basins grew up under the influence of both.The Shanganning basin and the Sichuan basin are intraplate polycyclic depressions and the Chuxiong basin is monocyclic,trending NNE and NS.Under the eastward thrust of the Tibetanwest Yunnan section,the western margin of these basins formed a center of depressions in the later stage.3.Oil and gas basins of the compressional type in western China-The northward push of the Indian plate brought about gradually 4 collision-compression zones from the Himalayas to the Altais,followed by a basinal subsidence on a large scale.The large oval-shaped composite basins in Dzungari,Tarim,Tsaidam and northern Tibet were formed in these zones.In the downthrown blocks of the thrust fault zone of Tienshan,Kunlunshan and Chilianshan,there are piedmont basins located in Wusu,Kuche,Yecheng,Jiuquan and Minlou.And Tulufan is an intermontane basin.