In the long history of the evolution of grassroots social governance in China, minimalism and complexity are two governance traditions with significant differences in political values, institutional arrangements and organizational structures. The minimalism governance pattern in the imperial era has the advantages of lower governance risks and costs, but it is surpassed by the complexity governance pattern because it is difficult to effectively solve the complex problems in modern society. Since the late Qing Dynasty, the complexity governance pattern has the advantages of strong resource extractive capacity and strong social mobilization ability, but it is confronted with the dilemma of high governance load and low governance efficiency. Based on deep reflection and comprehensive use of the two governance patterns, pursuing a dynamic balance between minimalism and complexity is the basic orientation of the modernization of grassroots social governance in the new era. To build a modern order while stimulating social vitality, controllable resilience governance is the strategic paths for modernizing grassroots social governance in the new era.

grassroots social governance, minimalism governance, complexity governance, controllable resilience governance, modernization of governance