There has been a “legislative explosion” in China in the past thirty years and a corresponding institutional development as a result of the growth of a cluster of reform-oriented legal institutions. Law reformers are developing a law-centric, court-centric, and lawyer-centric legal system. This agenda is limited and faces multiple challenges, including political challenges and challenges brought about by China’s social and economic transition. It is in this context that this paper discusses access to justice in China. Facing these challenges, the government is forced to re-consider the path of China’s legal reform and the importance and relevance of both “Western” experiences and the home-made alternatives. Indigenous values and systems are more resilient than given credit for in pushing back globalization. The paper, using access to lawyers and judges as examples, analyzes the tensions, dialogues, and compromises of different currents in China’s on-going legal reform.