Based on the final analysis data with horizontal resolution of 1° × 1° (four times a day) from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), a typical Northeast China cold vortex (NCCV) during the spring of 2010 was examined with the quasi-Lagrange-form eddy flux circulation (EFC) budget equation. Results indicated that the mechanisms that account for the development, maintenance, and attenuation of the cyclone varied with levels and stages. Displacement of the cyclone and transports by background environmental circulations dominated the variation of the cyclone in the middle and upper levels, whereas displacement and divergence associated with the cyclone dominated the evolution of the NCCV in the middle and lower levels. Moreover, interactions between the NCCV and other subsynoptic weather systems were important for the development of the cyclone, and the pattern of background environmental circulations was also important for the evolution of the NCCV, since the cyclone enhanced (weakened) as it moved from areas of low (high) vorticity to high (low) ones.