The interannual variation of coastal upwelling in the global warming has become a focus of study in recent studies. Using sea surface temperature and wind velocity data of 1982-2012, we investigated the intensity and the core location of the Qiongdong Upwelling (QU), and the roles of alongshore wind stress and local wind curl. Results show that the intensity of QU trends to decrease in recent 30 years. Compared with the alongshore wind stress, QU is more closely correlated to the variation of local wind curl that shows a decreasing trend too. The QU core location would occur most probably in 19.2°19.3°N zone, which is close to the area where maximum wind curl often occurs, and tends to move northward. Three intrinsic modes in period of 3, 5, and 10 years are found in upwelling intensity and core location variation, of which the 3-year one dominates the variation. In addition, local wind curl plays an important role in the QU interannual variation.