Abstract: The kinetic energy and the available potential energy budgets for large scale disturbances and general flow of the tropical circulation were calculated over the South China Sea for April-June, 1980, when kinetic energy budget of general flow was characterized by an energy source, the so-called dissipation term, which compensated for the cross. iso baric destruction, and the cross-contour generation,the energy sink. They constitued a balance of eddy kinetic energy. Available potential energy balance in general flow was mainly determined by the coversion term and the term related to changes in the reference pressure. For eddy available potential energy, however, the diabatic heating was much significant, and the exchanges among Ke,As and Ae,the horizontal flux divergence, and the changes in the reference pressure, were all important. Again, resultant energy budget contents before the summer monsoon onset was found to be much different from that after the summer monsoon onset.