Abstract: The Yinggehai basin is located in the juncture area between Indo-China continental block and northern continental margin of the South China Sea. The dynamical mechanism for generation and evolution of the Yinggehai basin has become a debating focus due to its complicated tectonic setting. Regional tectonic evolution which affects the development of the Yinggehai basin is systematically analyzed by integration of new regional data. It is believed that the escape structures formed by the collision of India plate and Eurasia plate, the clockwise rotation of Indo-China block and the deformation mechanism of the Red River Fault Zone in Cenozoic period controlled the generation and evolution of the Yinggehai basin directly or indirectly. There are three tectonic evolution phases in the Yinggehai basin. They are sinistral strike-slip extension phase, crust ductile extension and thermal subsidence phase, and accelerated subsidence phase.