The North China Basin is a composite basin, which is composed of the west sub-basin and east sub-basin. The west sub-basin is an extensional basin while the east sub-basin is a pull-apart basin. The basin is a composite basin which experienced Cenozoic rifting. The east-west and northeast trending Cenozoic grabens are superimposed on the northwest trending Mesozoic grabens of North China. The North China Basin experienced two episodes of Cenozoic rifting and thermal subsidence in response to the motion of the Tanlu Fault Zone which was controlled by tectonic evolution of the northeast Asia (e.g. opening of Japan Sea). The North China Basin entered extensive extension period in the Late Eocene and Early Oligocene. Movement of the Pacific plate played a more important role than collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates in the evolution of the Cenozoic basin, which led to the dextral strike-slip of Tanlu Fault.