Social harmony through good governance and public services is important for sustainable prosperity.Chinas leadership has often publicly expressed its concern to avoid social instability, and the government also has realized that a GDP-obsessed growth model was not going to help Chinas quest for a more egalitarian social transformation in the long run.This article first reviewed the origin of the concept of governance, and then discussed five backgrounds of social governance transformation in China, and further pointed out that the nature of social management transformation which in the Chinese context should highlight the concept of governance, because it has four advantages when compared to management.Strengthening and innovating social governance is a historic mission.In order to speed up the transformation of Chinas social governance, we should break out of the intellectual shackles; transform government functions; correctly handle the relationship between government, market and society; enhance the accountability of the public sectors; increase efforts to improve organisation and leadership.And eventually build a harmonious socialist society with Chinese characteristics.