Abstract: With the emergence of welfare states，civil right theory is widely used in public administration.After the worldwide management reform in the 20th century，civil right theory has worked together with new theories of public administration as theoretic guide to the development of modern society.Publicity，service and participatory democracy stressed by modern public administration have greatly promoted civil rights.Therefore，the author suggests that China′s public administration should be adapted to the modern time under the guidance of civil right theory.The reform is believed to help to equalize public services，to correctly define government role and to a construct sustainable civil right system.

Key words: citizen, civil rights, public administration, government, welfare state