Abstract: Starting from the basic factors affecting coal forming, this paper discusses the features of tectonic, climate, sediment and provenance, correlates the coal?bearing strata in Bohai Bay basin, South Yellow Sea basin, East China Sea shelf basin, the Pearl River Mouth basin, Qiongdongnan basin, Beibu Gulf basin and Yinggehai basin, and reveals the Cenozoic coal seam distribution characteristics in these China’s offshore basins. The results show that there are three coal?forming stages in these basins, with general environment for coal forming, numerous coal layer, thin thickness, low coal rank and local extension, and the coal?forming eras gradually become newer from north to south and from west to east, the main coal?forming stages are consistent with the tectonic events and the climate events