Starting with unique characteristics and backgrounds of emergencies and crisis, the authors discussed different crisis situations in transitional China and put forward that crisis management has come into being a big challenge for the Chinese governments. Then the chronology of crisis, organizational behaviors and the decision-making processes to construct a modern crisis management system are all discussed in details, seeking to shed light on the building of strategic design and institutional framework of crisis management in China. In so doing, we hope to generate insights not only into the dynamics of crisis decision-making and communication, but also solutions for possible predicaments specific to a transitional political regime in China.