It is of great historical significance and practical value to review the historical process of China's corporate democratic system development and examine its achievements and successful experience in the past century since the founding of the Party for improving the current democratic management system of enterprises in China. This study, from the perspective of institutional transition, analyzes the historical transitions of China's corporate democratic system, and fi nds that the transitions in the national economic system are the root cause of the changes in the democratic participation of China's enterprises. The transition in labor relations triggered in the process of economic system changes of all parties including the government, enterprises, and labor unions has become an important factor affecting the transitions in the democratic participation system of China's enterprises. In addition, the transitions in the democratic participation system of China's enterprises are dominated by mandatory features under the leadership of the state. However, in the process of market reform, inducing factors driven by the main body of labor and capital in the market have emerged, which plays an important supplementary role to the transitions in the democratic participation of state-led enterprises