Governance was the issue of common concern both of the monarchs and scholar-bureaucrats during imperial China era , was also the essential question in the history of Chinese political thought. "History as a Mirror" and "Continued Mirror" as records of the experiences and lessons from the governance practices of the monarchs and scholar-bureaucrats were full of concern about governance,  which mainly includes five aspects: governing by doing nothing that goes against nature, implementing benevolent government, being in awe and willing to listen to others' opinions, selecting and appointing talents to govern the people, and eliminating those who or what did the most harm. Through the analyses, we can find out that this concept of governance had three characteristics: elitism of the subject, benevolent government of the purpose and clarification of the carrier. The enlightenment of this concept of governance to modern Chinese politics mainly includes five aspects: strengthening system construction, promoting elite self-discipline, putting the people first, expanding people's orderly political participation, and leading instrumental rationality with value rationality.