Abstract: Exploration for marine hydrocarbon has gained great attention in China recently. The Pre-Cenozoic marine strata were widely distributed in the South Yellow Sea. In order to better understand these strata,we made comparison in this article of the marine strata and their depositional features between the South Yellow sea and the Sichuan basin in the upper Yangtze with the well data from the South Yellow sea and the lithostratigraphic data from the Upper Yangtze area. It is concluded that the Mesozoic and Paleozoic marine strata in the two areas dominated by carbonate platform deposits are generally similar before Indosinian movement,but different in the time and scale due to the tectonic movements in Paleozoic and Mesozoic. The sediments are comparable between the upper and lower Yangtze. Also discussed briefly are the source rocks and reservoir storage capabilities between the two regions. The successful exploration for marine oil and gas in the Sichuan Basin has provided a benchmark for the assessment of oil and gas potential and exploration of marine hydrocarbons in the South Yellow Sea.