Foreword : delving into the challenges confronting China / David M. Lampton -- Introduction : the People's Republic of China today / Zhiqun Zhu -- China's leadership succession and change / Weixing Chen -- A tragic miscarriage : how China's quest for political reform is undercut by the China model / Yawei Liu -- Concluding the complex learning process : the Chinese elites' acceptance of outward-oriented development / Lawrence C. Reardon -- Political accountability in governance : an informative appraisal of China's political change / Yuchao Zhu -- Liberalism and its impact on China's reform / He Li -- China's demographic dividends : past gains and future pains / Ding Lu -- Smashing the iron rice bowls : severing ties between the Chinese state and socialist workers / Jin Zeng -- Developing a PAYGO social security system in China : retrospect and prospect / Lin Ye -- An unprecedented challenge : can the Internet be successfully controlled? / Junhao Hong -- Spiritual beliefs and ethnic relations in China : a cross-cultural and social psychological perspective / Yueh-Ting Lee and Hong Li -- Tourism, modernization, and nation-building : the case of the Yangzi delta / Cecilia L.F. Chien -- China's public diplomacy in a new era / Zhaoying Han -- Foreign publicity with weak political credibility : a case study of Beijing's foreign publicity over the Tibet riots / Sheng Ding -- China's search for energy and climate security in an interdependent world / Jean Garrison -- The coming of a prosperous China with strong military power / David Lai -- Extended horizon : China's blue-water navy ambition and its implications / Qiang Xin -- Alternative perspectives on US-China relations / Eric Hyer -- Whither China in the 21st century? / Zhiqun Zhu.