A significant proportion of the world’s ultradeep wells have been drilled in China to search for oil and gas in the deeper parts of the petroliferous Tarim, Sichuan, Ordos and Bohai Bay Basins. These basins are often referred to using the term “superimposed basin” because such a basin is in fact composed of several basins that were formed at different geological times and vertically stacked because of complex tectonics. Based on a brief review of the general trends in global oil and gas exploration and development and the history of major deep oil and gas discoveries in China, the geological and engineering characteristics of deep petroleum systems in these basins are analyzed. Long-term exploration practices and theoretical research have led to gains of significant knowledge of the deep petroleum habitats in “superimposed basins” and, thus, have provided an impetus for the proposal of several valuable exploration paradigms. An overview of the technological advances and challenges is provided in areas such as deep target evaluation, field development design and reservoir engineering. Deep resource potential, exploration realms and play distribution, and key geoscientific and technological research directions in China are discussed, with reference to the needs for geological, geophysical and engineering integration and exploration and development cross vergence along the core value chain of the crusade into the deeper earth.