On 12 May 2008, the Wenchuan earthquake (Mw 7.9) produced complicated thrust-type co-seismic surface rupture zones, which encompass the dextral-slip thrust of the Yingxiu–Beichuan fault, the approximately pure thrust of the Guanxian–Anxian fault, and the sinistral-slip thrust of the Xiaoyudong rupture zone located between the former two. In order to understand the faulting mechanism, we discuss the rupture process by examining the segmentation and kinematics of the surface rupture zones, together with the co-seismic fault striations at various sites. Based on the two along-strike main displacement peaks (6–6.5 m and 11–12 m) and on the different geometric and kinematic patterns for the southern and northern segments of the surface rupture zones, we find that the Wenchuan earthquake might have consisted of two rupture stages, which is in agreement with seismic wave inversion results. By comparing the kinematics of fault striations occurring in the Bajiaomiao and Beichuan areas, it suggests that during the first stage, thrusting along both the Yingxiu–Beichuan fault and Guanxian–Anxian fault produced the ~ 80–100 km-long Yingxiu–Qingping surface rupture segment and the ~ 80 km-long Guanxian–Anxian surface rupture zone, respectively. Then, faulting was triggered along the Yingxiu–Beichuan fault by the first rupture process, yielding the second rupture stage, which was characterized by dextral strike-slip (or dextral oblique thrusting). Due to the overlap between the two rupture stages, the southern segment (Yingxiu–Qingping) of the Yingxiu–Beichuan rupture zone comprises two different processes while the northern segment (Gaochuan–Beichuan–Shikan) only suggests one rupture phase.