The exploration of the target mode for China’s reform has gone through a winding path:from the initial stage without clear target by blindly learning from Yugoslavia and Hungary,to the 1980s when someone proposed to set Japan and Germany as a model,then to the 1990s when the American mode was advocated.It is after the occurrence of three great events,i.e.,the collapse and fall of the Soviet Union,the serious economic crisis in the USA and the growth miracle of China,that Chinese people come to realize that the target mode——the new system to be established for China’s reform——should be the combination of the socialist market economy and the socialist democracy ruled by law. The exploration of the target mode for China’s reform has gone through a winding path: from the initial stage without clear target by blindly learning from Yugoslavia and Hungary, to the 1980s when someone proposed to set Japan and Germany as a model, then to the 1990s when the American mode was advocated. It is after the occurrence of three great events, ie, the collapse and fall of the Soviet Union, the serious economic crisis in the USA and the growth miracle of China, that Chinese people come to realize that the target mode - the new system to be established for China’s reform - should be the combination of the socialist market economy and the socialist democracy ruled by law.