Abstract: The grassland institution is an indispensable part of China's ecological civilization institution. Based on a cross-case analysis of 25 laws and regulations on grassland governance, in the perspective of North's institutional change theory, this paper analyses the path and influence factors of the institutional changes of China's grassland ecological civilization from four aspects of the institutional change, i.e. the goal, the subjects, the process and the environment. The results are as follows:first, the path can be divided into three phases:the slow-developing phase when the economic benefits possess higher significance, the fast-developing phase when the economic benefits and ecological benefits share an equal position, and the steady-developing phase when the ecological value is of predominance. Second, there are four factors influencing the performance of the institutional change, which are the sustainable degree of the institutional goal, the environmental protection concept of the leaders, the participation of other subjects in the institutional change process, and the strength of the external institutional support. Finally, this paper puts forward four suggestions to promote the performance of institutional change of China's grassland ecological civilization.