TheonsetofSouthChinaSeasummermonsoonin1998occurredonMay21st.UsingtheU.S.NationalCentersforEnvironmentalPredictionreanalysisdata,thispaperexaminesthephysicalprocessoftheweakeningofasubtropicalanticycloneinWestPacificduringtheonsetperiodusingtheZwack-Okossivorticityequation.Resultsshowthatduringthepre-onsetperiod,thepositivevorticityadvectioninfrontofanuppertropospherictroughwasthemostdominantphysicalmechanismfortheincreaseofthecyclonicvorticityonthe850-hPalayerovertheSouthChinaSeaanditsnearbyregion.Thesecondarycontributiontotheincreaseofthecyclonicvorticitywasthewarm-airadvection.Aftertheonset,themagnitudeofthelatent-heatwarmingtermrapidlyincreasedanditseffectontheincreaseofthecyclonicvorticitywasaboutthesameasthepositive-vorticityadvection.Theadiabatictermandpergencetermcontributednegativelytotheincreaseofthecyclonicvorticitymostofthetime.Thus,thepositivevorticityadvectionisthemostimportantphysicalmechanismfortheweakeningoftheWestPacificsubtropicalanticycloneovertheSouthChinaSeaduringtheonsetperiod.