Data processing method and apparatus applicable to a client in a distributed data processing system. The method includes receiving a data processing instruction for to-be-processed data, determining an active region, obtaining data distribution information of the active data region, dividing a data range of each active data region into at least one sub-data range, generating a data processing task for each active data region, sending the task scheduler a data processing request which determines a data processing server executing each data processing task and sends the data processing server the data processing task to be processed by it, and receives processing results of performing data processing for the allocated sub-data ranges, receiving a processing result fed back by the task scheduler and with respect to the to-be-processed data. The method and apparatus improve the parallel processing speed of data processing servers and overall processing performance of the system.