Abstract: The governments functions， especially its economic functions， play a key role during the process of agricultural modernization. The mountainous areas own the natural advantages to develop characteristic agriculture. Improving the modernization of characteristic agriculture is the most important way for the local farmers to get rich and develop agriculture. In fact， the modernization process of characteristic agriculture in mountainous areas was lagged in China. Thus， it becomes a hot topic about how to bring the governments roles and functions into play scientifically to develop characteristic agricultural modernization fast. This paper took the process of bayberry modernization in Xianju mountainous county in Zhejiang province as an example. As a result， it was founded that the governments functions in creating new developmental concept， policy guiding， supporting science and technology and improving traffic conditions played the most important roles in the process of characteristic agricultural modernization for the mountainous areas.

Key words: mountainous areas, characteristic agriculture, agricultural modernization, governments functions