Most Mesozoic-Cenozoic coal- and petroleum-bearing basins in eastern China are continental down-faulted basins, in which the formation and evolution of the sequence are mainly controlled by episodic tectonism. Based on a study of the sequence stratigraphy of some typical down-faulted basins, four sequence patterns have been identified according to the features of tectonic subsidence and its accomondation space; extensional (or tenso-shear), compressional (or compresso-shear), strike-slip-extensional and thermal subsidence patterns, each of which has its own characteristics of internal composition of system tracts. According to the characteristics of rift-filling sequence, three types of sequence stratigraphic framework have been recognized: polyphase rifting type, the type of transformation from rifting to depression, and strike slip-extensional type.