Alkaline intrusive rocks in Mesozoic-Cenozoic Lanping red bed basin of Yunnan Province were studied with the Ar-Ar isotope dating method. The results show that the Zhuopan alkaline intrusive complex in Yongping and the Lianhuashan alkaline beschtauite in Weishan have Ar-Ar plateau ages of 36.70 Ma and 38.81 Ma, respectively. Tectonic evolution of Lanping basin, controlled by closure of Palaeo-Tethys and collisional orogen between India plate and Asia continent, has undergone three evolutional stages, i.e., intracontinental rift, sag basin and strike-slip basin. The Himalayan basin at the strike-slip stage can be divided into four tectonic phases. The intrusion of alkaline complex is the first tectonic phase. Alkaline intrusive rocks in Lanping basin make up part of alkaline_enriched intrusive belt along the NW_striking Jinshajiang-Honghe fractured zone in the eastern margin of Qinghai-Tibet plateau. During the tectonic evolution of Jinshajiang-Honghe fractured zone from transitional compressional-shear deformation (42～24 Ma) and transitional extensional-shear deformation (24～16 Ma)to EW-striking extensional processes (＜16 Ma), alkaline rocks in Lanping basin were developed in the transitional compressional-shear deformation phase. The intrusion of alkaline complex and the tectonic evolutionin Himalayan period are controlled predominantly by mantle uplifting and partial melting generated by remnants of westward subducted Palaeo_Tethyan Yangtze block.