Variations in tectonic study through the Precambrian history of China are reviewed. The patterns of tectonic style found in each chelogenic cycle are compared and contrasted. Each of these intervals marks a period of fairly uniform tectonic style, evolving from more ductile to more rigid deformation, that reflects an increasing rigidity and a concurrent thickening of the lithosphere. An early permobile tectonic phase in the Archaean progressed through the early. Proterozoic to give way to a more stable, largely intracratonic, ensialic mobile phase. The mid-late Proterozoic transitional tectonic phase involved interaction of large, rigid lithospheric plates as in modern plate tectonics.