The farming-pastoral ecotone of the northern China is a typical and ideal zone for stu-dying eco-environment.The eco-environment is vulnerable in this area,which is attributed to the natural conditions and human activities.First,the study builds the diagnostic indicators of eco-en-vironment background condition,based on multi-subject spatial data to reflect the characters of the eco-environment.Then,the eco-environment is evaluated in 1989 and 1999 by using the digital grid model and the spatial analytical method.Next,the changes and spatial pattern of the eco-environment are analyzed.The results are as follows (1)The eco-environment background condition becomes worse from southeast to northwest in the farming-pastoral ecotone of the northern China.(2)The eco-environment background condition deteriorates from 1989 to 1999.(3)The contiguous areas of Shanxi-Shaanxi-Inner Mongolia-Ningxia-Gansu,Horqin sandy land and its outer area and the eastern Qinghai province witness the serious eco-environmental changes.(4)The eco-environment background condition of 12 counties is the worst in the 205 counties of the farming-pastoral ecotone of the northern China,they are Yanchi county of Ningxia,Wengniute banner of Inner Mongolia,Dingbian county of Shaanxi,Huanxian of Ganshu,Jianzha county of Qinghai,Fenxi county of Shanxi and so on,the affected area of every county is more than 60%.