In the process of leading reform and opening up, the CPC has demonstrated its core governing philosophy through the reform discourse system. This system is not only a key component of the Party’s political discourse system, but also an important carrier for building consensus on reform. The CPC’s reform discourse system has the functions of explaining social life, cohesion of values and inheritance of culture. It contains the main contents of fi ve dimensions: nature, goals, principles, strategy and methodology. It also demonstrates its ideological value in three aspects: clarifying the erroneous understanding of the nature of reform, responding to the erroneous views on the misinterpretation of the reform path, and refuting the erroneous claims of the historical division of reform. To construct a reform discourse system, it is necessary to promote the research on reform theory innovation and continuously refi ne the iconic concepts on the basis of promoting the development of comprehensive and in-depth reform practice, so that the communication mode can be changed from “shaping by others” to “shaping by oneself” and improve the international communication effectiveness of reform discourse.