China’s ruling Communist Party is admired by specialists for its seeming ability to deliver all kinds of things without democracy-elite stability, good governance, legitimacy, capitalist growth, and a middle class. But in all these areas, durable achievements have proven elusive. A president for life, worsening governance, and ticking time bombs of slow growth and fiscal deficits threaten stability. The balance of forces still favors the status quo, but the regime worries about a tilt in the odds. Outside of top cities, meanwhile, China’s growing ranks of disgruntled single males are slipping from the control of the Party’s social-monitoring system.