If they are separated according to their geological age and reported on amap,the post-Palaeozoic granites of China seem to betray a regular distributionin space and time.They emerge along a definite net of tectonic fissures; andthey shift gradually eastward toward the pacific margin of the land. This peculiar distribution suggests that granitisation is a specific andperennial geological process,possibly playing a fundamental part in the buildingof continents.