One statistic that makes everything vlear: the number of members of the Chinese Communist Party:
98 million, or 6.9% of the population.
https://www.statista.com/topics/1247/chinese-communist-party/#topicOverview
The Party members are the ones who have the job of keeping everyone else in line. They are the aristocracy of China. They are the ones Chairman Xi needs the support of, in order to enforce his own power.
And after several generations, they are a bloated and inbred aristocracy.
You think the children of senior Communist officials will flunk the admissions tests to become Party members?
And every Party member probably has his own graft.
“Hong fixed his eyes on the girl and then with an outburst of emotion said, Comrade Quing Huay, the party has accepted your application.”