New stratigraphic data indicate that carbonate sedimentation in the axial part of the Chinese South Tianshan (STS) occurred continuously from the Early and Middle Devonian to the latest Carboniferous. This reflects steady subsidence in quiet tectonic regime and excludes major collisional events in the STS during this time. Pre-Carboniferous structural events, previously identified in the marginal parts of the Kazakhstan and Tarim continental massifs, did not extend to the STS basin. Continental collision in the Chinese STS occurred during the latest Carboniferous and early Permian, as in adjacent areas to the west in Kyrgyzstan.