Abstract: China’s poverty alleviation has greatly improved the governance effectiveness of poverty. However, the theoretical implication of the mode of poverty alleviation in the theoretical genealogy of governance theories is still obscure. This paper points out that, compared with bureaucratic governance, market governance, and the new governance theory currently prevailing in Western societies, leading-edge integrated governance as a new category of the new governance theory is mostly based on the new governance practices of non-western countries and fills up the logical deficiency of present governance theories. The key of China’s success in poverty alleviation lies in the creation of a leading-edge integrated governance model with innovations in governance system and mechanism, which is characterized by a combination of single-centered governance power and multiple governance entities. Finally, the practice of an industry of poverty alleviation in a county in southwestern China is taken as a case to illustrate the application significance of the leading-edge integrated governance theory. Leading-edge integrated governance integrates some useful elements from various governance models, invigorates the advantages and potentials of the state, the market and the society, and expands the political and institutional capabilities of the state while enhancing the state’ governance capacity.