The East China Sea Basin is a major Cenozoic basin, with a sedimentary fill greater than 10,000 metres in thickness. The evolution of the basin is divisible into four stages‐down‐faulting, fault‐sagging, down‐warping and draping. Tectonic movements were characterized by multiple episodes of spatial differentiation, and tectonic units are divisible into longitudinal zones and latitudinal blocks. Various types of trap structure are present, including Tertiary sandstone traps, basement traps, and ree