A packet processing method, comprising: receiving, by a gateway control device, packet characteristic information of a first packet from a gateway forwarding device, wherein the packet characteristic information is obtained after the gateway forwarding device performs packet inspection on the first packet; searching, by the gateway control device according to the packet characteristic information of the first packet, a prestored policy library for a first processing policy corresponding to the packet characteristic information, wherein the policy library stores a correspondence between a processing policy and an execution condition of the processing policy, and each processing policy stored in the policy library comprises at least one packet processing action, wherein the packet processing action includes a charging policy and/or a network speed limiting policy; and sending, by the gateway control device, the first processing policy to the gateway forwarding device, so that the gateway forwarding device executes a packet processing action in the first processing policy, wherein the packet characteristic information of the first packet comprises layer 3 and layer 4 characteristic information of the first packet in Open System Interconnection, OSI, model, wherein the layer 3 and layer 4 characteristic information comprise a destination IP address, a destination port number, and/or a source Differentiated Services Code Point of the first packet; and the searching, by the gateway control device according to the packet characteristic information of the first packet, a prestored policy library for a first processing policy corresponding to the packet characteristic information comprises: searching, by the gateway control device, the policy library for at least one second processing policy corresponding to the layer 3 and layer 4 characteristic information; and determining, by the gateway control device, one of the at least one second processing policy as the first processing policy. receiving, by a gateway control device, packet characteristic information of a first packet from a gateway forwarding device, wherein the packet characteristic information is obtained after the gateway forwarding device performs packet inspection on the first packet; searching, by the gateway control device according to the packet characteristic information of the first packet, a prestored policy library for a first processing policy corresponding to the packet characteristic information, wherein the policy library stores a correspondence between a processing policy and an execution condition of the processing policy, and each processing policy stored in the policy library comprises at least one packet processing action, wherein the packet processing action includes a charging policy and/or a network speed limiting policy; and sending, by the gateway control device, the first processing policy to the gateway forwarding device, so that the gateway forwarding device executes a packet processing action in the first processing policy, wherein the packet characteristic information of the first packet comprises layer 3 and layer 4 characteristic information of the first packet in Open System Interconnection, OSI, model, wherein the layer 3 and layer 4 characteristic information comprise a destination IP address, a destination port number, and/or a source Differentiated Services Code Point of the first packet; and the searching, by the gateway control device according to the packet characteristic information of the first packet, a prestored policy library for a first processing policy corresponding to the packet characteristic information comprises: searching, by the gateway control device, the policy library for at least one second processing policy corresponding to the layer 3 and layer 4 characteristic information; and determining, by the gateway control device, one of the at least one second processing policy as the first processing policy. searching, by the gateway control device, the policy library for at least one second processing policy corresponding to the layer 3 and layer 4 characteristic information; and determining, by the gateway control device, one of the at least one second processing policy as the first processing policy.