Abstract: The geological evolution of the three plates of the Pacific, Indian and Eurasian has significant impact on the subsidence and infilling of Paleogene sedimentary basins in East China. This paper first discusses the deep geological structure of the Cenozoic basin groups in East China, then preliminarily analyses the relationship of the formation and evolution between the continent marginal rift basins and intra-continental rift basins and the main tectonic movement in peripheral plates, and at last discusses the relationship of the two kinds of basins. Based on the above discussions, this paper provides a comparative analysis on the characteristics of sedimentary deposits and the migration of the subsidence centers of the marginal rift basins and intra-continental rift basins. This paper also made a preliminary study of the sedimentary responses, consistency and diversity of the two kinds of basins in different tectonic evolutionary stages from different places of the complicated tectonic system in East China. This study is of theoretical significance for better understanding the relationships among continental rift basins in East China as well as the coupling of shallow and deep processes of Cenozoic fault basins.