Multiple equilibria and their stability in tropical atmosphere are investigated through β -plane barotropic models with consideration of heating and dissipation. We have derived the solutions of the model equations corresponding to the multiple equilibria or the steady flows first, and then establish the criteria for the stability of steady flow by use of the Liapunov direct Method. When these criteria are applied to the solutions of equilibria obtained, stable flows, which are closely related to the different patterns of quasi-stationary circulation in the tropical region, are found. The configurations of these stable flows and the shift between two of them as season changes provide quite reasonable explanations to many fundamental problems of tropical circulation features such as the catastrophe mechanism of the onset and the break-active cycle of the Asian summer monsoon. It follows that the onset or the abrupt transition of the Asian summer monsoon could be attributed to the multiple equilibrium property of the tropical circulation resulted from the advective nonlinearity, which provide another explanation among others.