Chinese continent, made up of several blocks, is structurally complex and heterogeneous, and has experienced multiple episodes of tectonic movements and high activity. Due to its special tectonic position, the later reformation of the Chinese sedimentary basins is intense and widespread, which is one of the distinctive features of the Chinese sedimentary basins apart from other basins in the world. As hydrocarbons are fluid minerals, later reformation has a significant influence on the reservoir, formation, and distribution of the hydrocarbon. Later reformation is integral to the study of basin evolution, tectonic characteristics, and the evaluation of hydrocarbon resources. The Symposium on the theory, methods and key technologies of Oil and Gas Exploration in Reformed Basins, held in 1998, has promoted and triggered studies and concerns in the oil and gas industry and academic circles in China towards the later reformation of basins, reformed basins and its oil and gas exploration. In this work, we review the advanced research on later reformation and reformed basins, a general account of the pr ogress of research on later reformation and reformed basins, and its implications for conventional hydrocarbons occurrence—accumulation, later accumulation- positioning, and special influence on unconventional hydrocarbons through a review of the available research results on later reformation and reformed basins at home and abroad.