Abstract: The extension-thinning mechanism of the eastern North China rift and the tectonic stress field at its peripheries during the Cenozoic and the mechanism of the uplift of the Ordos craton and formation of its peripheral down-faulted basins in the west are the hot topics of the current research, but they are seldom approached from the angle of numerical simulation. The authors used the finite element program FEVPLIB to perform numerical simulations of five sections in this region and present the following views according to the results. (1) The extension-thinning of the lithosphere near the Pacific subduction zone are strong, which coincides with pulling-apart of the Okinawa trough that the section passes through, while the effect of the Pacific subduction on the extension-thinning of the North China basin that is relatively far away from the subduction zone is weak. (2) Upwelling of asthenospheric material beneath the North China basin during volcanic eruptions resulted in the extension-thinning of the North China rift, which conforms to the mechanism of pure shear. At present the lithosphere beneath the North China region has tended to be in isostatic balance and the dynamic system tends to be in a steady state. (3) The Liupan Mountains were thrust over the Ordos block, indicating the compression on the northeastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which was a great force of pushing North China and might induce the uplift of the Ordos block, while the movement of the Ordos block to the northeast provided the background of extension of the peripheral basins. (4) The extension-thinning of the lithosphere beneath the North China region is the combined effect of the compression from the Liupan Mountains and the subduction of the Pacific plate in the east. The simulation results are in agreement with the GPS data, gravity anomalies and 3D lithospheric structure in the study region.