In the 40 years of China’s reform and opening-up,it has obtained a lot of valuable experience in national governance,of which China’s urbanization is a special perspective. The urbanization of the past 40 years has experienced three government-led models,that is,the politically led model,the integrated political and economic model,and the policy-led model based on the comprehensive development strategy following the law of national development. Transformation relies on conceptual changes,while the cognitive mechanism of the government-led urbanization model is the integration of the essential thinking mode of people-centered urbanization strategy with the functional concept of urban governance to avoid wastes in productivity and consumption on the basis of a benefit-led functional concept and technology-led functional concept with a consideration of China’s actual development and guiding principles.