Abstract: Based on the data of drilling and geological mapping, the subsidence history of central-northern Qinshui basin is studied by the back-stripping technique in this paper. The study shows that this area experienced three stages of subsidence and two stages of uplift since Permo-Carboniferous period. Qinshui basin was subsided slowly from Late Carboniferous to Middle Permian and rapidly from Late Permian to Triassic period, uplifted and denuded from Jurassic period to Cretaceous because of Yanshan movement and since Cenozoic because of Himalayan movement, subsided rapidly from Neogene to Quaternary period. The subsidence center mainly migrated from the south to the north since late Paleozoic. The denudation in the east is more than that in the west and the largest denudation thickness is over 1 000 m.