Policy making in authoritarian regimes is assumed to be exclusive. The selective use of experts in China questions that assumption. Through three case studies from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, we illustrate experts' functions in China. Local policy makers rely on them as science arbiters and to provide policy legitimization, just like their counterparts in the democracies of the Western world. They also have a function we call an “accountability facilitator,” which highlights the uniqueness of expert involvement in China. These cases describe the benefits the Chinese government receives from experts and explain why it is willing to listen to the public in certain circumstances.