The work aims to adopt 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) to alleviate the fruit softening caused by water loss of Actinidia arguta stored in open-pore packaging. The Actinidia arguta "Longcheng 2" was fumigated with 0.5 ul/L 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) for 16 h, and then stored in open-pore packaging to investigate the effect of 1-MCP combined with open-pore packaging on the softening of Actinidia arguta during the storage period. 1-MCP treatment combined with open-pore packaging was more conducive to maintaining fruit appearance and significantly inhibited the degradation of vitamin C and total phenols in the fruits compared with the control. Moreover, the 1-MCP treatment delayed the decrease in fruit firmness, probably due to the inhibition of the activities of the cell-wall degrading enzymes, polygalacturonase (PG) and cellulase (CX), which delayed the decrease in the content of original pectin and fiber, and thus delayed the increase in soluble pectin content and the increase in shelf-life. Therefore, the increase in soluble pectin content was delayed, and the shelf life was extended by 4 d compared with the control. 1-MCP in combination with open-pore packaging preserves the sensory quality of the fruit and inhibits the cell wall degradation process, thus delaying the softening process caused by mild water loss of Actinidia arguta in open-pore packaging, and achieving the purpose of improving the softening of the fruit.