The Central Canyon in the Qiongdongnan Basin, northern South China Sea, with an “S-shaped” geometry, trends NE across the Ledong-Lingshui, Songnan, Baodao and Changchang depressions.According to the morphology, filling and stratigraphic architectures, the CentralCanyon can be divided into 4 types in shape: V, U, W, and complex types, and 3 segments in area: eastern, western and transfer segments. The origin of the filling in the CentralCanyon can be ascribed to the gravity sediment.At each stage, the generation of the CentralCanyon was simultaneous to or a little earlier than that of synchronous slope.It can be proposed that the Canyon formed initially at the east of Qiongdongnan Basin and spread westwards gradually.