This paper discusses the Turpan-Hami basin from its tectonic setting, tectonic geomor-phology, present stress field, structural model and kinematic features. The authors hold that the Turpan-Hami basin is piggybacked on the Bogda nappe, and many structural and sedimentary features in the basin since the Jurassic are controlled by the thrusting intensity of the Bogda nappe and recoil nappe. Since the Cenozoic, the basin has been affected and transformed by the NE-trending sinistral strike-slip fault system; so it is considered to be a shear-piggyback basin.