Provided is a virtual circuit-based data packet processing method, which includes that: identification information of a next-hop Provider Edge (PE) node of a routing packet and identification information of an Original PE (OPE) node of the routing packet are determined according to the routing packet corresponding to a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service instance; a context virtual circuit is determined, wherein nodes at both ends of the context virtual circuit are respectively the current PE node and the OPE node; a virtual circuit label of the context virtual circuit is determined; a final data packet to be forwarded is obtained by carrying a VPN label of the routing packet and the virtual circuit label with an initial data packet of the VPN service instance; and the final data packet to be forwarded is forwarded to the next-hop PE node.