The SARS Epidemic Challenges to China's Crisis Management

In the first half of 2003, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)struck China (including Hong Kong), causing panic and claiming manylives. The unknown nature of SARS at that time also jolted theeconomic growth of China and Hong Kong, disrupted the social life oftheir citizens and created much stress and strain for their politicalsystems and governance. Like other major crises, the management of theSARS crisis provides a good opportunity to examine the strengths andweaknesses of the political systems in China and Hong Kong. From theoutset, scholars at the East Asian Institute (EAI) followed closelythe unfolding of the disease in China, particularly how each of thetwo societies coped with this random external shock. SARS may or maynot recur in the near future, but the episode has offered a glimpseinto the extent of resilience of the two societies, the quality oftheir political leadership, the effectiveness of their political andinstitutional mobilization, the crisis-management capability of theirrespective bureaucracies, and the viability of their governancesystems. This volume is the result of an EAI workshop on SARS inChina: Crises and Responses.