Alkaline granites (Rb-Sr ages 276-286 Ma)occurring in the Bayan Ul-East Ujimqin belt at the southern margin of the Siberian plate originated in a tensional tectonic environment about 60 Ma earlier than the Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous collision between the Siberian and Sino-Korean plates. They belong to post-orogenic A-type granites and may be used as an indicator of the end of the orogeny. At the northern margin of the Sino-Korean plate, however, only late-orogenic calc-alkaline granites occurred during the late Caboniferous-Permian, and alkaline syenites did not appear until the Late Triassic. The asymmetric magmatism at the margins of the two neighbouring plates might be controlled by the differences in size and mass of the two plates.