The recent and still unfolding Bo Xilai crisis reveals the flaws in China’s political system—in particular the nepotism and patron-client ties in the selection of leaders, the rampant corruption, and elites’ contempt for the law. Cheng Li argues that the Chinese Communist Party’s “authoritarian resilience” is a stagnant system, both conceptually and empirically, because it resists much-needed democratic changes in the country.