Abstract: Eroding trust in government is one of the major challenges encountered by Chinas contemporary government， which can not only weaken the legitimacy of the government， but also impede governance. More importantly， it can undermine social harmony. Based on Sztompkas theory， the current situation of eroding trust in the Chinese government can be inspected from three aspects—remarks， actions and functional substitutes for trust. It is argued that eroding trust in government results from the international and domestic environmental impacts， as well as the factors of the citizens and the government. Reshaping trust in government is a process of governance transition as well as a psychological revolution of the citizens and the government. Therefore， taking initiatives to handle the challenges in the era of globalization， maintaining and realizing social fairness and justice， developing modern civic consciousness， and strengthening the capability of governance are the gateway to reshaping trust in government.

Key words: trust in government, eroding trust, trust reshaping, governance