China has witnessed significant changes in its criminal justice system in the last three decades. As one of the major components of criminal procedure reform, the (re)emergence of criminal defense lawyers (and their expanding roles) is among the most noteworthy. Nevertheless, research on criminal defense work in China continues to post serious questions about the effectiveness of criminal defense in the current Chinese legal system. Based on recent survey data from a diverse group of criminal justice practitioners in J province, China, this study examines how actual criminal defense practices are evaluated by defense attorneys themselves and by the dominant ‘iron triangle’ (i.e., the coalition of the court, the prosecution, and the police officials). Our empirical findings consistently reveal that the work of Chinese defense lawyers is grossly undervalued by the ‘iron triangle’. Chinese criminal defense lawyers concur readily with the ‘iron triangle’ that the effectiveness of their legal representation is questionable and that their work bears little substantive impact on the final outcomes of the criminal trials. Implications for future reforms and research are discussed.