We discuss main tectonic features of the Little Qinling gold belt in Central China, located along the northern border of the eastern Qinling E-W tectonic zone, which hosts hydrothermal lode gold deposits. The distribution of deposits and the strike of ore bodies are controlled by the Dayueping-Jinluoban anticlinorium and the related faults, namely large ductile-shear faults on its flanks striking parallel to the uplift axis and some large faults in the north and south. Mineralization is associated with smaller-scale mylonite zones of brittle-ductile deformation. The Dayueping-Jinluoban dome went through several stages of tectonic evolution (compression → folding → doming → strike-slip faulting → extensional faulting → reshearing) accompanied by regional deformation, metamorphism, migmatizition and mineralization.