The L-shell X-ray emission of tungsten is investigated under the bombardment of C ⁶⁺ions in a high energy range of 154—424 MeV/u. Compared with the atomic data, the energy of the X-ray is enlarged, and the relative intensity ratio of Lι, Lβ _1,3,4and Lβ _2,15to Lα _1,2X-rays are enhanced. The L-subshell and the total X-ray production cross section are calculated from a well corrected thick target formula and compared with the theoretical estimation of binary encounter approximation (BEA), plane-wave Born approximation (PWBA) and ECPSSR (PWBA theory modified with Energy-loss, Coulomb-repulsion, Perturbed-Stationary-State and Relativistic corrections). On the whole, the experimental cross sections are all smaller than the prediction of PWBA and ECPSSR, but in rough agreement with that of BEA. It is indicated that the inner-shell ionization of W can be considered as a binary process between the high energy C ⁶⁺ions acting as a point charge and the independent target electrons. With the L-shell ionization, the outer-shells are multiply ionized. The multi-ionization degree is approximately regard as a constant in the present work. This leads the X-ray energy to be blueshifted and the relative intensity ratios of Lι and Lβ to Lα X-ray to be enhanced. Using the atomic parameters corrected by multi-ionization, the X-ray production cross section can be estimated by the BEA model.