Abstract The North China craton is encircled by four successive triple-conjugated rifts, which are respectively the centres of large igneous provinces (LIPs) of bimodal compositions, i.e. Xiong'er rift (south, c. 1.78 Ga Taihang LIP), Yanliao rift (north, c. 1.32 Ga Yanliao LIP), Xuhuai rift (east, c. 1.23 Ga Licheng and c. 0.92 Ga Dashigou LIPs) and Langshan rift (west, c. 0.82 Ga Qianlishan LIP). These rifts are genetically related to their contemporaneous LIPs based on their consistent geometry. Spatial migration of these rifts and LIPs indicates their propagation from along one marginal side to the opposite side of the craton, which may have resulted in the sequential breakup of the proto-North China craton from one side to the other during 1.8–0.8 Ga. However, the observation that the lithosphere under the LIP-associated rift regions is less destroyed (decratonized) in the Mesozoic indicates a possible role of LIPs in strengthening intracratonic steady state. This study shows that LIPs may change craton stability in either direction.