The modernization of social governance is the basic project for the modernization of governance system in China. Regarding what is meant by social governance, academic circles have many analyses, but there are many differences. It is meaningless to talk about social governance in the abstract without the specific historical field. The definition of social governance must be placed in a specific theoretical paradigm and histori_x005fcal scene. Under different theoretical paradigms and different historical scenes, the structure of social governance will show different appearances. In the current new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics in China, the so-called social governance refers to the process of adjusting the relationship between the state (ruling party, government), society and market through reform and opening up to form a social public field with relative autonomy, and commonly building, governing and sharing the social construction focusing on people’ s livelihood through dialogue and cooperation. The current state-led social governance in China has insufficient governance effectiveness due to insufficient governance power legitimacy, unbalanced governance structure, insufficient public participation platforms, and poor channels. From a long-term perspective, the social governance structure must be rebuilt to meet the needs of social governance modernization, which ultimately depends on the construction of a society ruled by law.