The control exerted by geological structures on karst development is a fundamental topic in karst research. Geological structures exhibit characteristics such as cyclicity, inheritance, and neogenesis. How these structural features orderly and hierarchically control the formation and evolution of karst systems, and their role in the initial onset, continuous evolution, and eventual demise of karst systems, remain to be further explored. On the basis of summarizing previous research, this paper reveals that during a single tectonic cycle, episodic regional tectonic movements generate stress that, upon exceeding the strength of carbonate rocks, leads to rock fracturing, which represents a brief release of accumulated stress.These rock fracture zones developed in the carbonate rockspromotes the initiation of karstification under epigenetic and deep fluidprocesses, referred to as inception structure, which marks the onset of structure controlled karst processes. In specific zones, structural configurations may generate extensional regimes that further facilitate karst development. As dissolution progresses along the fracture zones, a karst system gradually evolves. However, with continued stress accumulation in the subsequent tectonic phase, stress tends to concentrate along preexisting fractures, reactivating and modifying them, which may damage earlier karst systems and lead to the formation of new ones. This constitutes a progressive deformation process, essentially the cumulative result of finite strain and incremental strain. However, a new orogenic event can disrupt the preceding tectonic framework and establish a new structural regime, simultaneously reshaping preexisting landforms, climatic evolution, and drainage systems. This results in both inherited evolution and the development of a new karst geomorphic system, exemplifying the controlling influence of regional tectonic evolution on the formation and transformation of karst systems.