On November 9-11, 2018, Chinese Public Administration Annual Meeting 2018 and the 4th Young Scholars Forum in Public Administration was successfully held in Lanzhou University. The conference was hosted by Public Administration Committee and Youth Working Committee of Chinese Society for Management Modernization, and organized by School of Management, Lanzhou University and China Research Center for Government Performance Management, Lanzhou University. With the theme of "Public Governance and Performance in the New Era: Problems, Challenges and Academic Responses", the conference aimed to further promote the in-depth development of study of public administration in China and strengthen academic exchanges between scholars, especially young scholars in the field at home and abroad. Over 200 experts and scholars from more than 70 universities across the country attended the conference.

The opening ceremony of the conference was held on the morning of November 10^th. XU Shengcheng, Vice President of LZU, Professor BAO Guoxian, Honorary Dean of LUSM, Director of China Research Center for Government Performance Management, LZU and Secretary General of Public Administration Committee of Chinese Academy of Management, and Professor ZHU Xufeng, Associate Dean of School of Public Policy & Management, Tsinghua University delivered speeches respectively. XU Shengcheng, on behalf of Lanzhou University, expressed sincere welcome to the experts, scholars and guests attending the conference. He said that national governance, government governance and social governance in the new era are facing new challenges and opportunities for leap-forward development, which puts new and higher requirements on public administration; focusing on public governance and performance, promoting governance system and modernization of governance capacity are not only the the essential contents of public administration study in the new era, but also a major responsibility for higher education to serve the development of the country; youth scholars should grasp the main problems of social development, combine cutting-edge research methods with important practical issues, and constantly promote the development of study of public administration.

Professor BAO Guoxian said in his speech that since initiated in 2015 by Public Administration Committee and Youth Working Committee of Chinese Academy of Management , the Chinese Public Administration Annual Meeting and Young Scholars Forum has now developed into one of the most influential academic conferences in the field in China. Under the background of 110^th anniversary of Lanzhou University and 15th anniversary of LUSM, winning the bid for organizing the conference is a recognition and affirmation of the development of public administration at LUSM and LZU. He emphasized that as China's economic, political and social construction gradually enters the "new normal", the development of public administration is also faced with new opportunities and challenges; under the background of social transformation, strengthening public administration research, improving public administration level, and cultivating public administration talents have become a historic task of promoting all-round social progress and modernizing national governance capabilities; the gathering of well-known experts and scholars at home and abroad, especially domestic youth scholars in Lanzhou combining cutting-edge research methods with important practical issues and discussing hot issues of public governance and performance development will further strengthen academic exchanges between scholars at home and abroad and promote the development of academic research on public governance and performance management in China.

Professor ZHU Xufeng mentioned in his speech that although the discipline of public administration is young, it is one of the fastest growing disciplines in China. From 2000, the Office of Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council decided to establish MPA professional degree, and approved 24 colleges and universities as the first to offer MPA program to 2003, the Ministry of Education authorized the first batch of first-level public administration doctoral programs, the development of public administration as an independent first-level discipline of Management has only been 10 years. At present, there are more than 200 colleges, schools and units offering MPA programs. With the rapid development of public administration, the construction of an academic community has been put on the agenda. This conference held in the form of a forum for young scholars was meat to attract and encourage exchanges and cooperation among the most active young scholars in public administration and promote the development of the disciplines in China.

On the morning of 10^th, under the chair of Professor KONG Fanbin, Dean of the School of Government, Nanjing University, Kuotsai Tom Liou, former president of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA), professor of College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, CHEN Zhenming, Professor of School of Public Affairs, Xiamen University, ZHOU Zhiren, Tsuiying Chair Professor of LUSM, Professor YU Jianxing, Dean of the School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, and Professor BAO Guoxian, Honorary Dean of LUSM gave keynote speeches which focused on the theoretical problems and practical challenges faced in public governance and performance and have aroused great responses among the participating scholars. Later, at the Super Forum, hosted by WANG Xuejun, Associate Professor of LUSM, Professor ZHU Xufeng and YANG Yongheng from Tsinghua University, Professor YANG Lihua from Peking University, Professor LIU Bangcheng from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Professor LIU Peng from Renmin University of China, HE Jingwei, Associate Professor of the Education University of Hong Kong and MA Liang, Associate Professor of Renmin University of China exchanged ideas with participating scholars.

On the afternoon of 10^th and morning of 11^th, the conference was divided into 24 sessions. Scholars exchanged views and had heated discussions on topics such as performance evaluation, public crisis management, urban governance, big data and public administration discipline development.

The closing ceremony was held at noon on the 11^th and chaired by Professor WU Jianzu, Associate Dean of LUSM. Professor BAO Guoxian made closing remarks. Award ceremony for outstanding papers and handover ceremony for the next conference were held at the same time. Through application, vote and approval of Public Administration Committee of Chinese Academy of Management, College of Public Administration (CPA), Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) won the bid to host 2019 annual meeting. ZHANG Yi, Associate Dean of CPA, HUST accepted the flag from WANG Xuejun on behalf of his college and extended warm invitations to the participating scholars to attend the 5^th forum.

In addition, as an important part of the conference, on November 9^th, the editorial forum of public administration journals was held in Lanzhou. The editor-in-chief and editorial board members of over 20 magazines including Management World, Journal of Public Administration, China Public Administration, and Public Administration Review attended the forum and had dialogue and exchanges with participants.