Abstract: Yinggehai basin is located in the northwest of South China Sea， and formed in the Cenozoic The Cenozoic sedimentary thickness in the basin is more than 15km ，therefore，the structural features related to rifting phase are difficult to reveal by seismic profiling In order to understand its origin an d evolution， we analysed the regional characteristics of the Cenozoic tectonic evolution surrounding Yinggehai basin，an d obtained the Cenozoic tectonic stress field of the basin. The formation and tectonic stress field of Yingehai basin can be divided into four phases. The first phase, from the later Paleocene to the early Oligocene，Indochina block extruded toward southeast fast，with a clockwise rotation movement Yinggehai basin origined in this stage. The second phase， from the later Oligocene to the early Miocene， Indochina block’s southeastward extrusion slowed down gradually. However， South China block was relatively stable and Yinggehai basin was under a left-slip shearing condition. The third phase, during the middle and the later Miocene， with the Indochina block intruding into Eurasia plate gradually，Indochina peninsula’s extrusion slowed down further . At the end of the middle Miocene，South China block began to extrude integrally. The last phase，from the Pliocene to the Quaternary period，Indochina block was relatively stable，South China block’s extrusion continues ，the relative movement of these two blocks is right-slip shearing The Cenozoic evolution of tectonic stress field of Yinggehai basin is controlled by the interaction between Pacific plate， India plate and Eurasia plate. Most of all， the relative movement between Indochina and South China block resulted from the India-Eurasia collision is the dominate factor of the Cenozoic tectonic stress field controlling the origin an d evolution of Yinggehai basin.