I started this project after I finished my co-authored book with Dr. Huiyun Feng, Prospect Theory and Foreign Policy Analysis in the Asia Pacific: Rational Leaders and Risky Behavior (2013), in which we employed prospect theory to investigate some interesting puzzles in Asian security. I still remem- ber that China became involved in an intense diplomatic row with Japan over the boat collision incident near the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands in fall, 2010. Although the boat collision crisis ended dramatically after more than two weeks of diplomatic quarrels, protests, and even sanctions from both sides, I continued to be intrigued in exploring the patterns of Chinese behavior during foreign policy crises after the Cold War, because this boat collision crisis is not the first one involving China and will definitely not be the last one either. Understanding what Chinese leaders are more inclined to do during crises is the first step in order to avoid unnecessary conflicts with a rising China in the twenty-first century.