As a Chinese, I’m living in Inner Mongolia and now studying in WuHan, I can tell you that I have lived a democratic life in some way.

Although I may have no right to vote, I may have no right to decide which people will become my countries’ leader. I mostly satisfy with the current political system. My quality of life has gradually improved in my 20 years of life in an amazing speed. This country offers me safe life, free 12-year education up to University. I can go everywhere by high-speed rail in several hours, I can go out to have delicious BBQ at two o'clock in the middle of the night and there is no need to worry about any security issues. Is my freedom restricted? Appearently NO

In my University Campus or on the Internet, I always talk with my friends and mates about politics, many of these critical opinions have been publicly discussed on the Internet. Even in politics class, Teachers will teach some of mistaken policies that have been made by CPC, and discuss with us to figure out why CPC embark on a wrong path and how can we improve it. We even criticize some of the government's absurd policies and curse corrupt officials. Do I suffer from political persecution? Appearently NO

And I can use ins, twitter and quora to see you guys, there are many anti-Communist speeches among them. And This phenomenon also happened to many of my classmates around me. Are we blocked and arrested? Appearently NO

Nowadays, I can see with my own eyes that my motherland is swiftly becoming stronger. My life is more and more wonderful, I can do everything what I want to do, No more restriction than anyone living in a so-called "democratic country". Ukrainians and Libyans have gained democracy, Iraqis and Afghans have gained democracy. Do they experience a better life than us? I don’t think so. THEREFORE, WHY I SUPPOSE TO WISH TO LIVE IN A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY?

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I correct a mistake I made in the article, I do have voting rights. It’s just that I didn’t receive a notice when I studied in Wuhan. The picture below is the notice of the election of county-level people's congress representatives (similar to members of parliament).

The following is the translation:

To inform residents:
Hello everyone!
According to relevant regulations, deputies to the Tenth People's Congress of the Haibo Bay District need to be elected by election. The Bailou community is the fifty-second constituency. The meeting place is on the second floor of Bailou Community Party and Mass Service Center (in the north gate of Mengxi Century City Community). At the same time, mobile polling points will be set up in Deshun Xiangting, Yintai Shangshuiwan, Mengxi Century City, Yangguan Jingyuan, Singapore Garden, Enhe Jinyuan, District Apartment, Riverside Garden, Riverside Garden and Xianghe Homestead. All voters are urged to prepare carefully for voting, and then take their personal IDs to participate in the election meeting on time, or go to the designated place to vote. (If voters are unable to vote for personal reasons, they can contact Bailou community staff for written entrustment election procedures on December 20, 2019-December 25, 2019, telephone number: 3890623), and the voter registration list has been held in the community Public announcement, please check carefully, if eligible unregistered voters can contact Bailou community staff before December 25, 2019 for voter replacement registration.

Special announcement.

Fifty-two Constituency Leading Group of the 10th local District People’s Congress By-election in Haibo Bay District

December 19, 2019

2020.8.19 update

Let me say one more thing. I think due to China's population and development level, there is no way for China to carry out national elections now. But I believe it will get better in the future.

As for some of the comments about how bad the CPC is, I don’t deny it. CPC does have some faults, such as corruption, centralization. But CPC did turn China from a weak country into a developed one. And I see CPC working to solve these problems to satisfy its people. First of all, I love my country, CPC leads our country to independence and makes the country better, so I respect CPC. If one day CPC betrays its people, I think it will not win the support of the Chinese people.

I said what I saw, I said what I experienced. If you think it’s a lie, you can just see this answer as a joke.

There is a comment that I think is a very pertinent description of China：

Ernest Frank: The Chinese government has repeatedly pointed out that China will not adopt westernized election for major executive bodies for reasons 1) governing is a professional job and not open for populism which may give us a clown (Trump) an actor (Ukrane/ Philipine/boxer…) -(i am not saying that people of such background will not be a good leader but selecting them like throwing a dice), in China a top leader must have plenty of experience in governing (at least provincial level); 2) election magnifies difference and partisan interest, and the advocatary nature of election will enfore the division of a society (just every single society with popular voting system) which will be severly happened in a BIG and diverse country like China (that will immediately broken into tens of hundreds of small countries and fighting for limited resources (water, land…); 3) popular election produce compromise/conflict which in many cases is not the best option for a nation’s development (high speed train was officially approved to be built in US in the 80’s but due to conflicting interest of various local district, nothing happened so far); 4) short term thinking 5) focusing in winning an election but not helping the advancement of welfare… (there are many other minor reasons) but the most important goal for Chinese government is to have a stable and secure environment for long term development, so election is NOT suitable for a big and diverse country like China. But China is not dictatorial (no election NOT equal to dictatorial or authoritarian), power is given by peoples, so the government must do the best to improve the welfare of the peoples or general disapproval will lead to chaos/ revolution. In China most policy actually has to go through many rounds of consultations amongst the affected parties and come up with a workable policy (not one just with majority approval but one has been modified to have the least resistance/ greatest approval from the affected party; but in some occassion there must be sacrifice if the policy is right to the nation even it affects many people (e.g. shifting to gas instead of coal, fish ban in many rivers…) So just stop seeing the world in a binary lens and you will understnad more the world (not just China)

China is very strange.

As you study its history, you will find that PRC is not much different from ancient China.

Because China has implemented the imperial examination system a long time ago.

They passed the exam to select officials.

Then promote the officials according to the official performance of the officials.

China is still the system now.

China is neither communism nor capitalism.

It is more like a system that continues the ancient Chinese.

Very amazing.

The ancient Chinese thinker Laozi has always dreamed of reaching a well-off society.

Today, China announced that it will enter a comprehensive well-off society.

Let every Chinese have a house to live in, have 9 years of compulsory education.

Of course, if you only understand China through the media, you can't understand this answer.

Only when you read their history of the Spring and Autumn Warring States.

Only when you understand their ancient civil service system.

You can understand this answer.

Chinese police generally do not carry guns. If you ask for directions, they will be very patient to help you. The Chinese support their central government but are dissatisfied with the local government.

Because many local governments do not implement the policies of the central government for their own benefit.

(Western media always criticize their central government. This makes the Chinese very distrustful of Western media). If you need to accuse the Chinese government next time, you can blame them for local government. This will certainly not be opposed by the Chinese.

There are many reasons why the Chinese support the central government.

For example, the central government provides free nine-year compulsory education, cheap medical care, cheap higher education, cheap electricity, and cheap and convenient transportation facilities.

Moreover, during the founding of the People's Republic, the central government divided the land equally with the peasants (most of them were farmers at the time).

Nowadays, many Chinese are the sons of farmers, so they support the central government.

The current system of promotion of officials in China is not very different from the promotion system of officials in ancient China. Because they used the exams thousands of years ago to select officials and promote them according to the official achievements of the officials. This is something the West does not understand. I think they are neither communism nor capitalism. They are still the culture that continues the ancient China. So I think that although we can't understand it, we should respect their culture.

First of all, your question is based on a false assumption that everyone wants democracy. Well, here is one fun fact: no, not everyone.

You guys have been brainwashed about how good democracy is since your day one in the world, just as the way you accuse me being brainwashed by the communist party. Or if you prefer me to use a better different expression, we were born and raised in different cultural values and please step outside of your comfort zone and feel the diversified world.

In my opinion, if democracy means dividing the whole country’s opinion into two extremes (Democrats and Republicans), or if it means having several economic and financial crisises that the whole world had to bear, or if it means hundreds of homeless guys sleeping in the street, or the freedom of carrying guns make many lives gone, I’d rather live in my “dictator” world.

All the scenerios I just talked about were almost all from my experiences here. I was lucky enough to be here when the election was going last year, and guess what? I’m so glad that my country doesn’t need to go through that disaster, with all the fake news, attacking each other, putting everything else aside, which is actually important, only for the presidential throne. My friends here are divided in to two groups, and none of them can agree on anything. I don’t like it, but maybe you guys do. Again, cultural shock. I didn’t judge any of you back then because I barely knew this country and I don’t think it concerns me, so don’t judge our politics because you don’t know enough about China and it doesn’t concern you, either.

(For the record, when I said “you”, I mean all the Americans who think they are so superior that they need to be in charge of everything, including the stranger my friend met in the airport who asked why our government don’t care about human rights out of nowhere. Our faces say we are Asian and Chinese, not feel free to be rude.)

Also, while we are talking about human rights, don’t you think the basic human rights should be places to live and food to eat? I’ve seen more homeless guys and beggers here in the last two years than 20 years in China. And I didn’t live in any big cities like New York City or Los Angelos, I live in Denver which is supposed to be the “most life fit city”. Yes, we have high prices of house and appartments, but you know what? We also have government to pay for the prices so lower class people can also live in somewhere with a roof, and nine-year free education with high-quality teachers and schools. You want to know why the stereotype says Chinese people are good at math? Because we have good educational resources. Do you think those people would care more about democracy, or cheap prices for the appartment? Here is one cultural shock: we care more about whether we can survive more than others. If you think that democracy is beyond life, then suit yourself, because that’s what you’ve been raised to and I have no right to judge that. But also, don’t judge my value.

One more fun fact, did you know that in China, I can walk on the street near downtown in the middle of the night, just out of a night club, half-drunk, with mini skirt? But now, I don’t even want to go to downtown after 11 pm. Now, I cherish this safety more than anything. If you don’t, tough.

Talking about security, guess what else happened on the day Paris was attacked a few years ago? China was almost attacked. Why did no one know about this? Because we have an army that’s strong enough to prevent this and put most danger outside of our border. No offense to the Paris attack, I feel sincerely sorry for everyone, and I can really relate to that, I really do. But when I heard about this attack in Denver, the first thought that’s in my mind is that “I want go back home.” Thanks to the non-democracy of our government, we don’t need to spend too long on who should have the power, but “what should we do.”

I didn’t mean to get all emotional, but while I was writing this, all the things I feel in the last two years, all the rude and unjustified questions I’ven asked, all the weird look I got after I said I am a Chinese, have all come back. Over all, what I want to say is, I understand why you think democracy is something that’s pure good and every country should have democracy. But I just want you to know that democracy has flaws, and things exist for a reason. The fact that China’s been growing so fast over the years shows that our way is efficient and good for our country. You can’t just assume that the only solution to the world is democracy and anything else sucks. Get to know more, because US and Europe are not the whole world.

Let me put it in a way that westerners might be able to relate to:

Say, you are a woman married to a man who is calm and steady and can provide you material wealth. He is working hard enough to lift your life quality. He might keep some bad habits from his old man, say, too stiff sometimes, not considerate enough at some points, not romantic or humorous generally. And, he controls the TV remotes, banning you from certain channels - pretty lame huh? But, he is still the man you could rely upon.

While on the other hand, you have got another handsome young man pursuing you, who is jobless, full of empty talks and whose cousins recently messed up their life pretty miserably. He claims that he could bring you true happiness and you would be FREE! You can say whatever you want and watch whatever TV programs you like.

What would you choose then? Abandon your life and go for the “free” life with that dreamy young man? Do you really think that good future would come with this choice? No, you would most likely end up with a one night stand and ruin your life and your family.

Things might change in the future but so long as we are well fed and live a decent life - then who cares. We are that bitch.

Thanks for the upvotes.

Edit: Although this relationship is nothing romantic, it is by no means an abusive one. Many Chinese are happy with the government despite of some extent of inconvenience, bureaucracy, corruption and abuse of human rights, because we can see that the situation is improving and citizens are increasingly aware of their rights and ways to exercise their rights. With technological improvement, we could leverage many tools available to us to press the government for actions. And the government also understands that if they fail to deliver on their promises to fulfill people’s demand, then they will lose credibility, if not power. This is partially why people don’t abandon ship - it is going in the right direction and working well.

I lived in China (Beijing) from 2007–2016. When I moved there I knew nothing and figured that Chinese people wanted democracy because well, why wouldn’t they? After living there for a decade I now know that almost all Chinese people don’t care at all that China is not a democracy. They care very much whether or not the party is implementing government in a way that is fair to MOST people and promotes the building of wealth for its citizens. Many Chinese people do speak out when controversial events happen that suggests the party is not adequately acting in the interest of the citizens.

The mechanisms for feedback between the people and the government exist; they are just not democratic mechanisms. Some of the mechanisms for this feedback are very efficient, and others are very inefficient.

I think most western people, especially Americans (many of whom get their news from TV and tend not to travel abroad) don’t understand that there are many positive aspects to democracy but that also there are many injustices inflicted upon citizens in democracies that democratic mechanisms do not protect against, or in some cases make worse.

For example, in the United States, civil forfeiture laws are absolutely disgusting… police cruise around taking money or properly from people for small crimes or perceived crimes, in many cases where no criminal charges are ever brought. Does democracy protect US citizens from this injustice? No. Does democracy protect people from hyper aggressive police officers, overtaxation, long prison sentences, homelessness, etc… not really. Most citizens in the United States never even vote, especially not in local or state elections. Instead of using a small amount of time to vote they spend 10x more time complaining about how everything is on Facebook.

Most Chinese government officials are selected after a testing process, based on intelligence and merit. American ones, not so much, but at least the people get what they deserve because they selected the leaders. Much of the American system is not democratic in nature. All government agencies that actually make many of the regulations that affect our lives, are run by people who are appointed and not elected. Do those agencies make the best regulations that make everyone happy? Of course not. There are some wins and some losses… kind of like in China, where people don’t elect the leaders.

One thing that was very clear to me while living in China is that the speed of implementation of government programs or projects tends to be much faster compared with those in democratic countries. That’s why there are high speed trains covering most of the country, and why they can build an airport in a year or two while in democratic countries it can take a decade.

But back to how Chinese people FEEL about living in China which is not democratic: they are realistic about it. Rich people can leave if they don’t like it. Anyone with a decent income can buy a VPN software to read the news from abroad or watch Youtube or Pornhub or whatever content is banned on the Chinese internet. If they really don’t like it, even if they aren’t rich, they can still leave if they really want to leave. The government doesn’t force Chinese people to stay. For those Chinese citizens fighting against the government who really want democracy, its dangerous for them and unfair, of course, to be imprisoned because of their promotion of their ideas. And if you are a religious person in China, the unfairness level increases substantially. But most Chinese people aren’t terribly bothered by that.

As good as the Chinese government is at almost everything it does - it is unapologetically harsh towards those few people who take actions to promote the idea of a democratic China. There is no safe space for debate on the topic.

But the Chinese government knows that it needs to govern well or it will face the wrath of its citizens. Plus it helps that they actually, in most cases, want to make the best choices for the country.

In the end, if a Chinese person wants to live in a democratic country, he or she can immigrate to one. But the reason for doing so is rarely related to democracy.

(Photo taken by me in Beijing in 2015 on a day without pollution)

I am an ordinary person from China mainland. I was born in the 1990s and spent the first 22 years in my country. Afterwards, I moved to Nepal for work and also finished my two master degrees in Sweden and the Netherlands. Having lived overseas for years, also being well-educated and well-travelled, I would like to tell you more about China and Chinese people from my perspective.

I was born in an ordinary Chinese family. When I was born, I would say the majority of common Chinese families were not rich (or poor). We were even financially struggled to get fancy food. In my childhood, the most exciting moment was the Chinese New Year celebration because, during that period, we could have a lot of fancy food we desperately wanted, more importantly, they were served together. You could never imagine the thrill of having those food once you have been waited for a whole year. I am still getting excited when I recall this memory.

Gradually, we are able to afford more fancy food. Probably around my 10s, I felt bored about the Chinese New Year holiday. Why? Because we could afford those food at any time throughout the year, I started to get tired of having too much food and they were too greasy. Previously, I would also get extremely excited and feel as if we were celebrating Chinese New Year if I could have a chance to take some food in KFC or McDonald’s, now their food is the last thing I want to eat (sorry, no offence to KFC or McDonald’s lovers).

So what can you see through my life experience? Isn’t it the tremendous living standards improvement? Just a decade ago, our family was struggled to get decent food but now, they can even help me to afford to study abroad for chasing two degrees. I do not deny the fact that some Chinese children still do not have access to basic education and some of them are even suffering from starvation. However, our country and the hard-working Chinese people are striving to make our life much better.

Therefore, the core standard of justifying a good government of the country should be that the government has helped to improve the living standards of its citizens. “Freedom of speech” or “Freedom of expression” is also part of democracy which is the statement I also agreed with. However, if the government cannot help to improve citizens’ living standards and most of them are suffered from making a living, what is this freedom of speech for? Complaining on the internet and criticising the government? Yes, you are able to do so, but you have to think about how to get your food afterwards. Hence, improving living standards of its citizens should be the priority for a government and it is the fundamental standard to judge the government.

Indeed, China has the “Freedom of speech” or “Freedom of expression”, and it is a matter of the extent of execution and I regret to admit that we conduct far less than some good examples. However, due to the large population of China (1.4 billion, up to June 2019), also given the fact that only the minority of the total population are bachelor degree (or above) holder (less than 5% of total population, however this number needs to be justified further), the majority of ordinary people are not capable of making the decisions which can significantly alter the direction of the country. Furthermore, given the possibility that undereducated people can be easily misled by false information, China has to take measures to control the access to certain information source for the purpose of ensuring steady and rapid economic development at this moment. I truly believe that the higher level of democracy in China can be achieved once the majority of people are well-educated and they are capable of making the decisions which are beneficial for the country.

I write this statement not because I want to justify China, it is simply because I want to let other ordinary people know what my country truly is. We would love to construct our better future together, to construct “a community with a shared future for mankind” (Chinese: 人类命运共同体).

I work in Hong Kong but my work enables me to meet people from different parts of China. They are fully aware of that China has a different political system from the western countries. They also know that China is not as democratic as the West, but this is a blessing indeed. The chaos of the democracies in the West as well as Taiwan, the horrors resulted from the Spring of Arabs, and the insatiable greed of the American imperialism under the veil of democracy have all intimidated the pro-democrats in China. Many Chinese people come to believe that democracy is a plot to disintegrate China and put China in a position never able to compete with America again. Many of them used to have fantansies with the concept of democracy but now come to realise that every political system has its own limitations. There is no such a thing as one size for all. The present government wins her legitimacy by leading the country into spectacular economic success, and by providing social security system within the limit of resources. The people would not risk losing the quality of life and their future prosperity for empty words or concepts, which was the tragic path that Libyans and Syrians had gone through.

Yes, we wish, but western democracy is not what we want.

Simply because there are too many people in China. Some may say, India has a close population, but she's a democracy too. Please, go ask an Indian, what candidates do in India to buy a vote, especially in rural area? How much a vote worth? We don't want this. At present, self media make popularism easier to grab eyes, if we apply western democracy, there must be war against our neighbors, even North Korea. Who wants war? Nobody, but popularism will push politicians to do so or he will lose in election.

“Not democratic” is a prejudice against China with a daily push on my quora timeline. So I have prepared a counter-proof, this is a photo I take somewhere on street of a village.

This is a publicity of information of candidates campaigning for a village committee. Let me take the left one to illustrate:

There are upper and lower parts on the sheet. Upper part is for the dean of the committee, two candidates, items from left to right are:

Name, age, gender, education level, votes in initial election

Lower part are members of the committee, there are three candidates. Items are the same with upper part.

Right to it, is a confirm sheet, meaning after ten days publicity, if there are someone disagree on candidates, if any one of three had any oppose, he or she will be crossed off from the sheet.

I admit China is not a western democracy, but we have our own way. That is democratic centralism.

I know most people think China is not democratic is because they don't see we have a nation wide presidency election. No, we don't have such an election. I admit this. On one hand is because we don't have a tradition of western democracy, on the other hand, China's huge population requires leaders of government must be professional and experienced to handle domestic issues. For example, we will never elect a Trump as our president, because if he wants to be our president, he has to start from a dean of a village and compete with hundreds of thousands of deans all over the country to go up till president. Even if he became our president, he would not behave as what he did in America, years of governing will train him into an expert. And this is also what we did in past one thousand years.

No matter democratic or not, the exact morpheme of political system has and only has one goal: to make a good governance. Democracy can't guarantee prosperous, nor do any other means. This is what most Chinese Quorans want foreigners to understand.

Donald Trump was voted for by 26% of eligible voters, fewer than his opponent. Both were chosen as the candidates, to widespread dislike, by a process that involved fewer than 10% of voters.

Currently President Trump is disapproved of by a large majority of the US population.

President Xi was chosen by a small self-selecting group, in much the same way as business Chief Executives are chosen. According to Pew Research, and my personal observation living in China, he continues to enjoy the positive acceptance (not quite approval but a kind of ‘could be a lot worse’ attitude) of the substantial majority of the population.

What makes you think the US system Democratic? Or the British. Or the French or German? Are you quite sure that elections and democracy mean the same thing? I am increasingly unconvinced. So, I think, are those Chinese people who bother with such things.

Let’s look at this from the Chinese perspective and contrast with the world’s leading democracy, the USA.

So, a question for my American friends. In 10 years time, you will be making three times the salary you are currently making. In return you will not be allowed to hold Nazi marches and you can’t organize public criticism of the government. Do we have a deal?

Next, the theory of democracy sounds wonderful, just like the theory of communism also sounds wonderful, but how do they work in practice? Well communism has been awful. But China seems to have found a middle-path incorporating elements of capitalism with socialism. Individual rights are not granted the same reverence that they are in the USA, yet if we dig beyond the rhetoric, what do we find?

In the 2018 World Happiness Report, World Happiness Report 2018, there’s a measure called, “Freedom to make life choices”. China’s surveyed result was 0.877617598, compared to the USA at 0.868496716. So roughly the same, with China slightly ahead. How can that be? Perhaps economic wealth brings greater life choices?

How well does democracy help the average American? The spending on political campaigns is going through the roof. Political campaigns are wonderfully choreographed marketing campaigns, spending billions and winning awards, Obama Wins! ... Ad Age's Marketer of the Year

And it’s becoming only about money, not the electorate:

Gilens and Page in their seminal paper Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens write:

“economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence”

So, the real question is does China want to move from one flawed system to another?

In the present system, one which restricts individual rights, but in which the leadership are working on behalf of all the people towards a goal of a ‘moderately prosperous society’ (middle class), achieving this goal and are now progressing towards a ‘great modern socialist country' (wealthy). It’s working in practice, not just theory.

The alternative is an oligarchy, with rich leaders working on behalf of the wealthy in a system where such rules are codified in law and in which the problems continue to grow and are getting worse, with no end in sight. It’s now reached the point in which a foolish billionaire is passing legislation to give further tax breaks to his billionaire friends with a populace who are too gullible and uneducated to see how they are being manipulated. It’s not what I’d call appealing.

I'm a Chinese and study in Canada currently.

No, most of my friend would like to come back to China after graduation. The rest of people stay because of various of reasons except they prefer live in a democratic country. The life in my country is convenient, the cost is lower and it's safer there.

In fact, as a Chinese, I do not consider my country as not democratic. In the past, I agree we abandon some right to make the society in harmony. While China has improved its laws and regulationthese years, and Chinese has as much power as people in other country. I think it's time to get rid of the biases.

By the way, I was wondering why western countries always identify they are democratic. Because in my opinion, their government did the same thing as our government. Besides, how to define democratic? If a country is not democratic, is that mean it is authoritarian？

Democratic country like what?

Do you mean India?

Do you mean Egypt?

Do you mean Bolivia？

Err, no.

I don’t think they are better than China.

Oh, you say the US, Canada, Australia…

That’s not only democratic, but they are developed.

We can have a developed life even in China. That’s enough.

Maybe… once we get a version of Democracy that promote long-term thinking rather than short-term gains. Problem is that the current, western form of Indirect Democracy (Representative Republic) doesn’t do well at this. Instead, it is routinely sabotaged by short-sighted populism and political lobbying.

See, Chinese culture values Meritocracy more than Democracy

In the words of Lee Kuan Yew (1923-2015) — the founding father of Singapore, the man who transformed his country from 3rd world to 1st world in a single generation, and the man whom every Chinese leader since Deng Xiaoping looked up to as a mentor:

"With few exceptions, democracy has not brought good government to new developing countries...What Asians value may not necessarily be what Americans or Europeans value. Westerners value the freedoms and liberties of the individual. As an Asian of Chinese cultural backround, my values are for a government which is honest, effective and efficient."

The Greek philosopher Socrates once asked: if you were on a ship heading out to sea, who would you want to be in charge of the vessel? Just anyone? or people who are actually knowledgeable about the rules and demands of seafaring?

Socrates asked us to imagine an election between two candidates:

• A doctor, whose treatments may be painful, who gives you bitter medicine and tells you that you shouldn't eat or drink whatever you like… OR…
• A sweet shop owner, who serves you sugary foods of pleasure.

Which one would you pick?

Of course, the average person would rather pick the candidate who tells people what they want to hear, rather than what they need to hear.

Chinese have recognized this problem for a long time. In the words of the Chinese legalist scholar, Hanfeizi (280 - 233 BC):

“The superior and the inferior wage a hundred battles a day… (thus) a wise ruler, when he makes his laws, is bound to find himself in conflict with the world.”

Meritocracy has a long tradition in China. During the Warring States era, Chancellor Shang Yang of the Qin Kingdom was known for exacting reforms that elevated a farmer based on how productive he is. Farmers that repeatedly failed to meet their quota were enslaved, then given to farmers who vastly exceeded their quota as rewards. Soldiers who killed enemies in battle earned benefits based on their performance: slay 5 foes and they may redeem a family member from slavery, slay 100 foes and they're elevated to become a village elder, and so on. A slave may rise all the way to becoming a governor or general purely through their own merit.

Callous? Yes. But effective. The Qin Kingdom went from being the poorest of the Chinese warring kingdoms to steamrolling the others and unifying China in just ~150 years.

But the Qin dynasty was then overthrown due to its brutality, and Chinese bureaucrats quickly recognized Qin policies overdid it and was too inhumane. However the core principle of Meritocracy survived. The Han dynasty instituted the Imperial Examination System in its earliest form — which scholars from all over China would meet at the capital to take an annual exam. Those who performed the best would be placed on the fast track to promotion as civil administrators. The Imperial Examination System survives to the present day in the form of the Gaokao college entry exam.

In his Ted-Ed talk A Tale of Two Political Systems, Eric X. Li breaks down the modern Chinese government into a series of tiers which combines career tracks for civil servants. CCP administrators progressively move up this track while working in either government administration, state-owned enterprises, and social organizations. Each year they are graded based on performance criteria. Those who do well are promoted to higher offices, while those who do poorly will find their careers becoming stagnant (this is part of why many local governments in China are corrupt/incompetent — they’re filled with officials who can’t get promoted).

Even Xi Jinping, a "Red Princeling" (his father was a high-ranking revolutionary), had to work for decades to slowly move up the ladder to where he is today. Xi spent 25 years in top administrative jobs in four provincial-level entities: Hebei (1982–1985), Fujian (1985–2002), Zhejiang (2002–2007), and Shanghai (2007), with a collective population over one hundred million. Each of these provinces have hugely different problems to solve and challenges to tackle -- tell me, is there a single Democratically-elected leader in the world who has such a strong job Resume/CV before they were elected to national leadership?

This is why China is not a Democracy. It's not that the Chinese love autocrats, but rather the Chinese value competent leaders who have shown their capabilities through a lifetime of hard work, not just sprout some cheap slogans on an election campaign.

When we have a form of Democracy that will allows the most experienced, the most capable, the most deserving to the top rather than the most popular, that’s when China and its people will truly demand Democracy.

—

For more on how the Chinese government has done so well, I recommend this post:

Usama Ahmad's answer to Would China still compete with the US if the US smashed China in a war?

There are very many great answers here, but I would like to add my own, with an analogy first.

In China, tap water is not safe to drink right out of the tap like in the US. Why? Because the water plant simply does not spend the money required to treat it to that level. The technology is there, but they’ve decided it’s not worth spending additional money beyond making the water safe to touch in general.

There’s a good reason why they do this. In China, people will always boil water before drinking. Always. Not just out of safety concerns, but also because people LIKE to drink hot water and tea, so much so that many Chinese will continue to do so when they are living in the US where this is no longer required to make the water safe.

Therefore, why spend extra money on water treatment when people perform the final step themselves anyways? Quite redundant.

For similar reasons, people are not bothered about being unable to directly vote for their leader. Why?

Because after dozens of social upheavals in the last 150 years, including civil wars, the Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution, foreign invasion etc, China’s society has come to the realization that any sort of government is ultimately a game about how money and power is distributed.

You have two options:

1. Play the game yourself, investing large amounts of momey and time to make sure the game goes your way.
2. Let the government play the game for you, and threaten to stop playing (which means collectively overthrowing the government) if it doesn’t go your way. Of course, you might win less from the game due to not playing it yourself, you also spend much less time and money on it.

People in China have simply chosen the second option, because overthrowing the government is second nature to them and much easier than actually playing the game (and possibly walking into traps similar to Trump and Brexit). Find a history book and look up all the dynasties of China, and consider that most of them ended in peasant revolts. Ever since 王侯将相宁有种乎, the rulers of China have always been riding a tiger. Great fun, but the tiger will toss you off and kill you if you irritate it too much. Forget the right to bear arms, people in China do not need guns to overthrow the government, and all the theoretical knowledge they would ever need to do so is right there in what Mao wrote down.

So why spend money and time playing the game of Western democracy, when you can let the government do whatever they need and threaten to overthrow them if they mess up and do something stupid (like having a Chinese version of Trump as leader)?

So much like how further water treatment would be redundant, people are not all that bothered about not being able to directly elect their leaders. Worst comes to worst, you can always violently overthrow them.

As a non-Chinese person who has lived, worked, and done business here for a number of years, most Chinese people I think would not wish to live in a democratic country, and in fact it is a very American thought that everyone in the world would want to live in such a society.

The Chinese people are okay with the current government because of mainly because of two factors - firstly it is stable and secondly because they like the general direction of openness or reforms in policy that is currently happening over time.

We also have to look at the very “careful” methods that The Chinese Government have taken over the years through this reform process because if done too quickly, the whole system will fail.

While many Chinese people think the the US and other western countries are “free” this is mainly used to mean “freedom of speech,” while on the other hand, the Chinese system holds many advantages to society for example safety.

Beijing for example is one of the most populated cities in the world with an estimated population around 17 million. We usually do not see police everywhere as the society is “self safe” and it was not until recently that we had seen security check points for the largest main attractions of the city - Tian’an men Square in particular.

Democracy does not work for every society.

I am Chinese. I have lived in both America and China.

Do I wish to live in a functioning democratic society? Absolutely.

I am aware of the shortcomings of a fully democratic society? Absolutely

I am aware of the shortcoming of a fully authoritarian state? Absolutely

Is the current authoritarian/representative democracy/technocratic system working in China, however? Seems working better than anywhere else.

How does the general Chinese public feel about the current system? Mostly happy

Would a fully democratic system work as well for Mainland Chinese and the current Chinese society? Ehhh who knows, but why change something that is working fine

I’m a white American married to a Chinese born woman for 20 years. We go back to China almost every year for family visits and vacation. My brother-in-law is a member of a family that was pretty high in Mao’s government in the previous generation. He also speaks very good English. We talked about this last month.

Short answer: Democracy would be great if it could be achieved without destabilizing the country. Economic progress comes first. Is there a hunger for political freedom? Not that I can discern. Certainly there are Chinese who are desperate for this kind of freedom, but they must be a tiny minority.

Interestingly, day to day China feels less policed and regulated than the U.S. They certainly don’t spend a lot of time enforcing traffic laws. The big exception is the internet, which drives me crazy, but doesn’t seem to bother them much.

We want it because we have been raised to value it. Let’s see what happens when economic prosperity has been available for more than one generation in China. Or, God forbid, when the economy crashes. There are lots of empty buildings for sure.

• I feel very sorry for people who do not know what China is all about and are ready to open their mouth and tarnish this country left to right and center.
• Please learn about China first, work with them, and visit this massive country. BTW, one life may not be enough to scratch a surface.
• The more Chinese people see what a democratic system, the more they like their methods.

F YI: By and large, The Chinese people like their governance system, in a few years China is going to be more wealthy, and the middle class is going up every year, wait a few more years. The middle class is going to surpass the total population of the USA.

China’s middle class is exploding

China’s middle class is exploding

• Kim Iskyan, Stansberry Churchouse Research
• Aug. 27, 2016, 9:09 PM

Largely due to Asia, the world's middle-income population doubled in the past decade, from 399 million to 784 million.Reuters

The American consumer has been a central driver of the global economy for decades. Fortunately for the overburdened American consumer, China’s middle class is going to be picking up more of the slack.

China’s middle class is on fire. According to a study by consulting firm McKinsey & Company, 76 percent of China’s urban population will be considered middle class by 2022. That’s defined as urban households that earn US$9,000 – US$34,000 a year. (That might not sound like a lot, but adjusted for prices, it delivers a roughly comparable “middle class” existence to other countries.) In 2000, just 4 percent of the urban population was considered middle class.

When the money goes in right pockets people love that system. They to the best of my knowledge do not give two hoots to this Democratic system.

India and China were at the same starting point in 1949, almost similar conditions, long history, foreigners looted both the countries, and both were flat broke.

Now here is the sum total after 70 years.

Read the glory of Democratic India.

China leaves India behind, heads towards first world

ROOTS OF POWER

MADHAV NALAPAT

www.sunday-guardian.com/profile/madhav-nalapat

Thirty years ago, China was as dysfunctional as India is to the present day. While Mao Zedong unified his country and transferred some of his confidence in it to the rest of the populace, he was as weak in economics as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been. It was only after Deng Xiaoping took charge of economic policy in 1979 that China began its climb to the top. Today, to compare India to China would be even more fatuous than comparing India with Pakistan. Our northern neighbour is so far ahead that it is not even visible in the distance. Our administrators pride themselves on being the "steel frame". A better word for their effect on the country would be straitjacket.

Tianjin is an example of how far China has leapt ahead of India. Although more than 150 kilometres away from Beijing, the city is reached by train in a half-hour. Its two universities, Tianjin and Nankai, are working at excellence, as are other universities in China. In the 1980s, almost all were worse than their top 20 Indian counterparts. These days, even middle-rank universities have left Indian ones far behind, another great achievement of the UGC and its babudom. It has an international airport and a huge port, where several ships, including cruise liners, regularly call. Comparing Tianjin with the squalor of Gurgaon, where taxes disappear into the pockets of officials and politicians, is an exercise in raising blood pressure to dangerous levels. If China can do it, why not India? Why not indeed? Look at our officials, look at their political masters, and the answer will become clear.

China leaves India behind, heads towards first world

MADHAV NALAPAT is very gentle/polite because he has to live in India but he summed up everything.

For further readings:

Half of the world's poor classed as 'destitute'

Half of the world's poor classed as 'destitute'

POLICYRESEARCH

An Oxford University study to identify the multidimensionally poor in the developing world has found that in 49 countries, half of the poor are so deprived they should be classed as 'destitute'.

The world has mega problem, of poverty/illiteracy/slavery/ hunger/child slavery/gender inequality/ then warm and fuzzy ideas, of freedom of speech, and moments.

This children may lose their voices due to malnutrition they may have democracy but have no will to live.

In 2011, a total of 135,585 people committed suicide, of which 14,207 were farmers. In 2010, 15,963 farmers in India committed suicide, while total suicides were 134,599. From 1995 to 2013, a total of 296,438 Indian farmerscommitted suicide.

suicide indian farmers - Google Search

https://www.google.ca/imgres?img...

Please someone can go to India from the west and tell the widows/children/dear and near one of these departed farmers, corrupt and fake democracy is very good system for them.

These are all Democratic countries.

Please go and compare supposedly advanced Democratic countries with supposedly evil states.

Here is democratic “first world” our beloved country Canada.

One in five Canadian children are at risk of going back-to-school hungry

One in five Canadian children are at risk of going back-to-school hungry

Poverty in the USA.

Current estimates on poverty in the U.S. The officialpoverty rate is 12.7 percent, based on the U.S.Census Bureau's 2016 estimates. That year, an estimated 43.1 million Americans lived in povertyaccording to the official measure. According to supplemental poverty measure, the poverty rate was 14.0 percent.

Poverty in USA - Google Search

Fifth of UK population now in poverty amid worst decline for children and pensioners in decades, major report reveals

A fifth of the UK population is now in poverty, a major report has revealed

Nearly 400,000 more children and 300,000 more pensioners are now living in poverty than five years ago, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says Getty

Poverty in Australia:

Showing results for poverty in australia
Search instead for povety in australia

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In October 2016, ACOSS released a new report revealing that poverty is growing in Australia, with an estimated 2.9 million people or 13.3% of all people living below the internationally accepted poverty line. ... It found that 731,300 or 17.4% of all children were living in poverty in Australia.

povety in australia - Google Search

Poverty in Japan:

https://www.google.ca/imgres?img...

Japan's rising child poverty exposes true cost of two decades of economic decline

Soup kitchens have sprung up to provide meals for some of the estimated 3.5 million children officially living in poverty in one of world’s richest countries

One in six people in Japan are now 'poor'

The loss of family support structures and the rise of 'freeters', young people who reject corporate culture for a freer working life, are causing the number of poor people in Japan to climb

By Robert Michael Poole 10 August, 2010

Please tell these Children/adults who are starving that Democracy is very good.

Hunger in India | India FoodBanking Network

Key facts about hunger in India

Largest India is home to the largest undernourished population in the world

14.5% of our population is undernourished

190.7million people go hungry everyday

21.0% of children under 5 are underweight

38.4% of children under 5 years of age are stunted

1 in 4 children malnourished

3,000 children in India die every day from poor diet related illness

24% of under-five deaths in India

30% of neo-natal deaths in India

Hunger in India | India FoodBanking Network

Now this is China, whose leaders are bleeding with the cry to their poor people.

Sure there is still poverty in China, and the beautiful thing is at least President Xi, recognizes it and admits and gives three dead lines to wipe it from China.

Xi in New Year Address: 3 More Years to End Poverty

02OCT2015

China Pledges to Fight Extreme Poverty

China is pledging support to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 during the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit September 25-27.

For the first time, China is launching an assisting fund for developing countries with an initial investment of $2 billion. China’s goal is to give a total of $12 billion by 2030.

“This is [a] major break with the past,” said Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics at the University of Nottingham. “It’s the first time China is putting a large amount money toward international development.”

China Pledges to Fight Extreme Poverty

Why did western style democracies failed in Highly populated, mass scale illiteracy, religious divides, hate, gender inequality, totally corrupt systems and class systems or Caste system.

These so-called democratic systems are not fit for mass scale, illiterate people, where there is tremendous gender gap, mass scale poverty, huge population and corrupt systems.

• These so called democracy in dysfunctional countries are designed to keep a poor person poor for generations after generation due to corruption/poor or very little law and order and almost no opportunities for the lowest of low.
• Justice system is dead slow to dead, or extremely expensive, and the rich buy it in the end.
• Gender in equality to the extent females are still lowest of the low in some area.
• No matter what law you pass, the caste system is alive and well, Votes are cast as per caste on the Candidate.
• Some of the MPs may have criminal past.
• Waste of tremendous amount of resources.
• People are starving, and the nation is building statues.

The list goes on.

In case you are not aware, China is spending Trillions of dollars to help who are on friendly terms with China.

What are the current massive infrastructure projects in China, 2018?

What are the current massive infrastructure projects in China, 2018?

Sam Arora's answer to What are the current massive infrastructure projects in China, 2018?

Earlier this July, China and Nigeria agreed to a $11-billion contract to build the Lagos-Calabar coastal railway. It'll stretch for 871 miles and is expected to open in 2018.

World's biggest building project aims to make China great again

World's biggest building project aims to make China great again

Tajik women who are optimistic about the region’s redevelopment. Photograph: Tom Phillips for the Guardian

The ‘Belt and Road initiative’ could see hundreds of billions spent from Mongolia to Malaysia, Thailand to Turkmenistan and Indonesia to Iran

by Tom Phillips in Tashkurgan

World's biggest building project aims to make China great again

Now let us talk about freedoms:

• Freedom of speech: In case your kids can call, mom/dad/grandparents/teachers with F word. The Chinese respect/their elders and in fact they worship them.
• Divorce rate/mixed family system: The Chinese family unit is legendary, they are not used to his kids/her kids/their kids in one household as yet.

MAP: Divorce Rates Around The World

Chinese divorce is rising but still very low.

• Almost everyone works: In China either you work or starve or family has to take care of you, with this system, this self pride had been developed over the thousands of years.

The Chinese are incredibly proud people they do not even like to be tipped. To do outstanding service is expected for them tipping is corruption. Never mind accepting welfare cheque and food bank, help.

• Solid family structure: It appears so far there is a excellent family relationship, solid family values, elders are a central part of the family as an anchor. ( The Concubine system is a history)
• Extraordinarily frugal/and more significant savers: They are very careful with finances and saving, and that is why they have the last surplus of cash with the Government and in mattresses. (JK)
• Women in China, finally have claimed their half of the sky,: she can walk in the city in the middle of the night alone safe and sound. (Based on my observation and my friends confining it)
• Your kids can play until dark: Mom/dad are not afraid and paranoid.
• The Police is not a bully he/she is your real friend, I believe most of them do not even carry a weapon.
• Some of the police are dressed in shorts looking like your next door neighbor.
• In case you are in China and go hungry, you must be the most unfortunate person.
• No drive by shootings.
• No guns.
• Serial Killers: Have not heard very many serial killers.
• Law and Order: Safety/law/order first and foremost and that is China today.
• No opium anymore:So far China has cleaned opium addicts and relatively drug free, but who knows when these may creep up again.
• Discipline and hard work: In my view the Chinese are one of the most disciplined workers with team spirits. They knew it for thousands of years, rest of world is now stressing the need for this important ingredient for success may find very difficult to adjust to this individualistic society.
• Some of the things may be hard for them to adjust :Also they may not like some of the other things and find it very hard to adjust, such as same sex marriages, pot laws and tremendous wastage of tax money.
• Entrepreneurship in some starts as soon feet hit the ground:

Mr Yan said in an interview with Pear Video he used to bring the boy along for deliveries but Little Li enjoyed the job and soon wanted to have his own little delivery cart.
Read more at 7-year-old delivery boy reignites child poverty debate in China

7-year-old delivery boy reignites child poverty debate in China

Hard work in their blood, entrepreneurship is the key, this race can survive on bowl rice mixed with water and a few drops of soy if needed.

Chinese 'ice boy' melts hearts after 4.5km walk to school in subzero weather: Reports
Read more at

Chinese 'ice boy' melts hearts after 4.5km walk to school in subzero weather: Reports

A Primary 3 boy in Yunnan, China showed up in school red-faced, with frost coating his hair and eyebrows, after braving freezing conditions to walk 4.5km to school on the first day of his final exams.
Read more at Chinese 'ice boy' melts hearts after 4.5km walk to school in subzero weather: Reports

Glimpses of China:

China is not wasting time/money on useless fights;

“If you build an army of 100 lions and their leader is a dog, in any fight, the lions will die like a dog. But if you build an army of 100 dogs and theirleader is a lion, all dogs will fight like a lion”.

Napoleon Bonaparte: If you build an army of 100 lions and

Napoleon Bonaparte Quotes

For your side notes/FYI/

What are some darker sides of living in Canada?

Sam Arora's answer to What are some of the worst things about living in Canada?

The Chinese may not know this side of Democracy.

Please stay tuned more to come.

I would like to offer a viewpoint from Vietnam, where similar system is in power. Please correct me if I’m wrong anywhere, because I have never been to China.

Firstly, we common people don’t really care who is in power, as long as they can make people’s life better, and the ones in power don’t get too corrupted. At the moment, total absence of corruption is impossible because government officials’ salaries are rather low, and they have the power to defy what is given to them. Therefore, unless a better system is implemented to ensure a government official can live well on his/her own salary, corruption is unavoidable. There is a joke in my place saying: it’s OK for the guy to take 1 if he helps the people earn 10. However, if he takes 5 and the people get nothing, he deserves a place in hell.

Secondly, the East and the West experienced 2 different situations. In the Eastern countries, most were governed by a strong centralized royal government, and the ones ruling the local areas were just employees. In the West, this kind of strong centralized government almost never existed since the noble rulers had quite a lot of power, sometimes comparable to the central authority. The people in Eastern countries have more respect (or should I say fear) for the central authority, and that pretty much remains until today. We still have strong respect (or fear) for the central government. It will take long to change, no choice.

Thirdly, for now, we don’t believe most of the common people have the ability to choose the right leaders (this stays true even for Western people), nor do we think they care (for the people here only I guess). Letting the people choose their own leaders can easily fall into the trap of populism, not democracy, especially when most common people are short-sighted and selfish regarding national issues.

Fourthly, people need physical and mental satisfaction, the former taking precedence. Many countries here are developing and the people, while they do need some level of mental satisfaction, requires better fulfillment of physical satisfaction first. Until the people here reach comparable wealth level to Western people, we can talk about democracy later. Any plans/plots to implement democracy at the current stage of development is more likely seen as anti-development schemes, and will be rejected asap (except for some countries which can’t even decide their own fates). A country rarely experiences prime development time (in terms of demography and economy) to develop rapidly, evolving from developing to developed countries. A democratic movement, although unintended, will disrupt this development process, thus such movement at the moment can easily be regarded as national crime (as least that is my opinion). Therefore, we beg people to leave us alone, let us develop and transform first, and we may follow your democratic pathways when we are well-off in the future. Now, we only need to get rich, have the money to take care of family and personal needs. I won’t talk democracy when I have no money.

Fifthly, if some people want a solution, then I can say democracy is just one of them, and not the only choice. Besides democracy, there are more important things we want the government to do: make people’s lives constantly and progressively better, improve officials’ salaries so they don’t have an excuse to get corrupted, be more transparent with government spending, and last but not least (but probably in my most wishful thinking), allow the common people the democratic right to remove a corrupted leader from power. We common people may not know who is the best for us (let the elites decide anyway, they are more far-sighted and knowledgeable), we do know when one is exploiting us common people.

Democracy should come last after all these points, or we may not need it at all, who knows.

I've lived in USA for 20 years. I don't really feel much democracy here. You can speak out your opinion in democratic country, but nobody will listen to you if you have no influence. When it comes to election, it is just to pick up one from two bad eggs. In this country, corruption is legitimated. People set up laws and social/economic structures to favor their own benefit.

Democracy is worshiped like God for a lot people outside China. But Chinese people are very practical. Democratic sound good, but it is not necessary to take the risk unless there is firm proof that it will make life much better. Instead of follow democratic country blindly, why can’t we try to develop a better system? I don’t believe democracy is the ultimate perfect way to manage a country. There should be a better way there waiting for us to find out.

I don’t know other Chinese people’s answer to this question. My answer is “No”.

I have to compare the US with China to explain the complex situation.
The US economy is based on capitalism and private corporations. Politics is a business in the US. Politicians sell themselves to the voters and donators to make a career. In many cases public service is limited to the people who paid for it. If you are wealthy and pay more tax than the poor ones, you can have better police protection service, better public school, your children have better opportunity to enter a better university, you can have better lawyer services, your donation to the politicians will ensure that your words matters more than the others. This is the system in the US called democracy.
But this system just cannot work in China. China is a crowded developing country with a proud history and civilization. There was a revolution and its legacy can’t just be ignored. China’s economy is based on socialism and public organizations. Chinese people have much higher expectations on their government and much fewer tolerance towards the wealthy ones. If a tramp falls dead on the street, it’s the government’s fault; if a remote village cannot access the power grid, it’s the government’s fault; if there is no good roads or railways, or the fees too high, it’s the government’s fault; if a university president lowers the standard for the wealthy kids or raises tuition, it’s the government’s fault (so top Chinese universities are almost free, filled with students from ordinary families, who can only enter by high NCEE score. Wealthy kids’ clubs do not exist in any Chinese university); and if the Chinese government cannot restore Chinese civilization to be the most advanced one, that’s evident enough for its incompetence.

So China has to shift from socialism to capitalism to change into a democracy, that process will kill a large portion of Chinese population. We can see what happened in Russia after USSR collapsed. Russians thought that all the benefits of a socialism country would remain and they could have the extra right to vote. They were wrong. Most of the state owned properties, especially oil reserves, were swallowed up by new oligarchies and foreign companies. Teachers and doctors couldn’t get paid, savings were vaporized by inflation, and pensions were not enough to provide a basic living. Life expectancy for men almost shortened by ten years. Capitalism offers the rich and strong with a paradise, but also kills the poor and weak silently in big masses. If this kind of disaster happens in China, there won’t be any paradise promised by those evil propagandists or ignorant naive people, but a new revolution and a new CPC. So like it or not, democracy is just impossible for China.

OK, once I used to be a fan of democracy and was often cynical about the status quo of China.

But, facts sort of prove me wrong. And after a retrospection on history, I figured something out.

First, China doesn’t have an obvious democracy but the Chinese people are fine with that. This indicates a lot. Over 2,000 years, each dynasty that ruled China was eventually overthrown by the oppressed people. There have been way more revolutions in China than anywhere in the world. If there is none now, that means the government is doing a satisfactory job. If the majority wants democracy, when the crunch comes, we’ll see changes.

On the other hand, the democracy that once enlightened Chinese didn’t turn out to be magically effective. Brexit, Trump, Le Pen, Tsai Ying-wen… let alone countries where the color revolution took place. What has democracy brought to their people? Taiwan used to be the exemplary democracy among ethnic Chinese, and see what ensued? Endless complaint and protests. More Taiwanese students would like to work in the Mainland.

Chinese are pragmatic. The people likes what yields benefits and obviously democracy does not rank the top. In the past it’s subsistence and now it’s personal and familial wellbeing.

However, I do believe that law enforcement is crucial right now. People need reassurance. There has been tumult when injustice hit civilians’ nerves. The government needs to re-establish its credibility.

So, my point is, for Chinese people now, what they want more is wellbeing.

Democracy is the result of the rich country,not the reason.

The positive example is China is more and more democracy than before. The Chinese newspaper and website can publish many bad news for china now. It can't imagine in 30years ago,even 10years ago.

The negative example is many countries learn democracy from western countries. Such as India,Brazil,Mexico and many east-Europe countries which joined democracy since USSR was broken down in 1991. The question is do these countries have got richer or more safe since they become democracy countries?

The answer is Nope.

People should get rich frist, than we can talk about democracy ,human rights ,race issues, LGBT issues or anything else.

Do u guys watching AMC walking dead? I think most of people like the group of Rick. They love each other and brave. But they also kill people and Rick is a 100% dictator. But no matter people in the show or out of it. They think he is a leader who lead them to overcome every horrible things and bring them to a good life.

If Rick lives in a real world, he must be charged by kill people or violence. But why we don't judge him much in the show? Because it's the end of world? Not quite but close.

The true reason is people can't keep themselves safe and don't have many resources to support themselves. Even people live in Syria is better than them.

If you get nothing to eat or wear. Or your living in a country which people kill each other everyday. Do you have time to think about democracy? Everyday You must think is how to survive.

That is the Same reason why Trump can be the president of USA.

We all know Trump is a crazy guy with many bad histories. But why him?

Because too many Americans can't live with respect! Most of them lose their jobs since many American industry move overseas, they could get a service job like washing dishes but illegal immigrants take those jobs by lower wages. Finally they got a job to keep their life, then Obama medical insurance come to rob them money. even I am not an American, I can imagine how angry of them!

Frankly speaking, democracy is good, LGBT and unwhite people should have equal rights. It's the light and hope for the human future. But if you don't have a job, can't feed your children, just wait to die when get illness and live with fear from terror everyday, the only thing you think is let you and your family get out of this disaster. Most of American have no choice because they just have two choices and one of them don't care about their lives anymore. So they have no choice to vote Trump,even he is a crazy person.

Same reason why UK leave Europe.

At the end.

Let me repeat it again.

Democracy is the result of the rich country,not the reason to make country rich.

Save your breath ok. This topic has already became a cliche here.

As others elaborated before, different countries have different circumstances, you cannot simply transplant the western social style into China.

In modern times, after the Qing dynasty, ROC established in mainland China from 1911 to 1949. During that time, the so called democracy had installed. Although it's only partially setted, still, it represented China had taken her first step into the modern world.

But why did Chinese choose communism finally? If you look at the history of China, particularly the modern period, you may find the answer.

1. China didn't gone through the first and second industrial revolution. China stepped into republic directly after the collapse of Qing dynasty in 1911. Remnants of feudalism still existed in society, especially in remote area.

2. So many warlord started dogfight against each other from early 1910s to 1930s, such as two times Zhili-Fengtian War, Central Plain War, Northern Expedition War, etc. These war were catastrophic to society.

3. War against invaders, such as Sino French War, Anti-Japanese war (WWⅡ)

4. Although China is partially democratic, she was controlled by Jiang, Song, Kong, Chen, the four most powerful monopolistic families in China during ROC time.

So you can see this is China under democracy 70 years ago. The result is that capitalism doesn't work for China. It only creates monopolies. Democracy is only a flag, a slogan.

Under this circumstance, Chinese choosed communism. Finally, it worked out. Without communism, China can't achieve this much.

Plus, so many countries under democracy don't have those achievements. So, democracy isn't a panacea to everything.

As for individuals, we want democracy for sure. But it has to be the Chinese way.

We do, but it's not our top priority ‘yet’

Also Chinese people are not educated to an overall high enough level to be able to make use of Democracy appropriately.

This should be obvious when you look at the 1.3 billion population and how the majority of them (mostly older generations) still have lack of knowledge, judgement, access to what’s going on in the world and other resources.

If China adopt the western idea of Democracy, the rights will soon be abused by the uneducated lots who still dominate the major population in China today. Whoever said what they would like to hear will win the election because no matter how strongly the elite group oppose it or vote against it, they will not have enough vote ever.

Then (once again?) it will become a game of gaining the power , you can almost see that corruption would be the first thing to emerge, money will be able to buy votes because there are still poverty in many areas. Someone who say something others don’t like to hear maybe punished to death. Even UK had that tragedy on the poor Labour MP Jo Cox let us remember.

It will become a nasty version of ‘Brexit’, a ‘Trump winning the election’ x 1000 times more divided. People in China will start hurting each other because they think their voice should be heard first, even it may not be the right thing to go forward.

So Democracy? Yes it would be nice but not now.

Chinese government is working on raising the whole standard of the Chinese society, by focusing on education and promoting better behaviors/manners and kindness in people to start with, so it is not impossible that Democracy will eventually become suitable to China, but it takes at least a few generations to get there.

Anyway, enough said on this aspect, the next aspect in my opinion is:

Through out the long history of China, very few dynasties were governed in Democracy (I do not have proof to cite on so I'm not saying anything 100% definite), and when people get to a point where they couldn't stand the leader anymore , they simply rebelled and overthrew the ‘government’ and then start a new one.

Since most Chinese are educated to middle school level about their entire Chinese history from the first emperor to the most recent, you can tell that they are so used to changes of dynasties and leaders etc so they don't seem to care about it as much as some other things in life for now such as wealth, education, technology etc.

Maybe because they know, that although it may take a few hundred years to change, but what (government) they are having now will eventually become the past and form a small fraction of the Chinese history.

I’m a Chinese and I think I have rights to answer.

If you ask me, the answer is NO, I do NOT want to live in a democratic China.

I am a phD student and obviously, I can reach the internet, that means I know what democracy is. Not like people live in the North Korea.

China is a large country with enormous population. And we have many complex challenges. I believe, democracy is not the best solution.

Although we were the most powerful country in the world, but we left behind in the last centuries, far behind. I also believe, only the centralized political system can lead the people to our goal——be great again. So far, I’m quite satisfied with the Communist Party’s job.

Finally, living in China is not painful. In fact, I feel very happy, but the best part is I know our life will become better and better. So, thank you for your concern.

honey, wake up.

let me ask you this"don’t you want to live in a Socialist country like china?"the reason you ask the question is that you think your country is better than China or democracy countries are better than socialist ones. i respect your opinion and belief, but who do you think you are, where did you get the freedom to judge others without basic respect? please think questions with yout brain instead of your so called belief of freedom and democracy. OK? don’t judge, and you have to admit that China is a wonderful country and you know nothing about China.

no personal offence, just don’t like your attitude and opinion.

No. “Democracy” is an American ideal. Here in China people are happiest just living their lives in their small bubble. I’m not Chinese, but am American living in China. The Chinese government, while not perfect for other countries, is perfect for China. There is no dissenting forces in mainland China and because of this, stuff gets done… fast! I moved into a medium sized city: Nanjing, two years ago. At that time there were 5 subway lines running: 1, 2, 3, 10, S1, and S8. Today there are 10 lines running: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, S1, S3, S7, S8, and S9! And that’s in less than 2 years! Compare that to ANY American city… I mean sure, LA builds freeways all the time, but… come on!

I think what a lot of people fail to recognize is not about whether China being democratic or not, but whether it is a “modern” country. You don’t see people asking whether Singaporeans wish to live in a democratic country or Hong Kong people in the British time whether they wish to live in a democratic country when there was no democracy whatsoever.

Before moving to China I had the same problem as a lot of westerners or maybe even worse as Taiwan and China weren’t really in a good relationship. And it really took me years to realize democracy or not doesn’t really matter that much. Just because it works well in a couple of western countries don’t mean that it’s good or bad (as you can also see a lot of counterexamples), and surely doesn’t mean that it’s the only answer as a political system.

I do think China wasn’t so much a modern country in the pre-21st century time. And I really hated it. But now if you ask me I’d definitely say yes. It’s really amazing how fast things are changing here, even for the Chinese people. And you can imagine how many generation gaps this has resulted in.

That said, I wouldn’t say people don’t think about this at all. They’re actually a lot of Chinese people who believe democracy is better, and dream about being able to vote. But I think most of them never been to a democratic country so they don’t really understand what it means to be able to vote or what it doesn’t mean.

I had lived in Taiwan for about fifteen years and never made a vote (tho Taiwanese people are really passionate about voting. For every presidential election the voting rate is almost always above 80%. The lowest being 66%. It’s crazy). The only time I actually voted was about fifteen years ago when I was in Seattle and I think I made a vote for the county I was in at the time because my cousin (she’s American) told me, the FOB, that being American means you need to vote. I don’t really remember whom I voted for and what the position was and I never voted ever since.

I don’t really know whether being able to vote can make a difference for my life or for the life of people that I care about. And I do know what it’d be like having a bad president (you know who). And I think that can definitely happen to non-democratic countries like China as it’s happened many many times throughout the history. But really I haven’t seen a good argument that can convince me that one system is truly better than the other.

The priorities of Chinese are a bit different than those of many westerners. Chinese want a society that is orderly, and wealthy. They want a government that is competent, responsive and stable. Chinese do like it when an incompetent or corrupt official is removed.

Long run, I think China will move in a more democratic direction. However, that may not be a western style representative democracy. Already, there are independent polls in China and public officials are expected to pay attention to such polls. The range of such polls will continue to expand as will their importance. I think you will see more local democracy. I can imagine China making use of Citizens' assembly - Wikipedia for specialized purposes under the direction of the Communist Party. China may someday even adopt use of Communist party selected worker representatives in the largest businesses, similar to what Germany does, but with more controls.

Any movement in a democratic direction will be carefully managed. Too many people alive remember the cultural revolution and want to avoid such chaos at all costs. China includes an area the size of the east of the Mississippi with the population density of the Eastern seaboard. That is something very tricky to manage.

The example of Singapore shows a society does not need to be fully democratic to greatly contain corruption. I think containment of corruption is a higher priority for most Chinese than full democracy. Another priority is improvement of environmental conditions.

i`m Chinese ,i from China

You ask me if I want to be democratic?

democratic

According to the basic principles of organizational behavior, 2000 people who do not know each other, if 5 of them become a group, soon, they can rule the other 1995 individuals.

根据组织行为学的基本原理，2000个互相不认识的人，如果其中5个人成为一个团体，很快，就可以统治其他1995个人。

不是我不想要，而是我一个人，一个独立的个体，能做什么？

最多，也就是写写文章，揭露社会的问题、告诉更多人我们的政府究竟是如何对待我们。

但是，政府强制把我40000粉丝的社交账号注销了。

这个国家里的所有人都在赞美CCP，因为他们不知道CCP对他们做了什么。

CCP删除、修改我们的书，禁止出版社发表对他们不利的书。

这导致这个国家的人们对自己的处境一无所知，就像朝鲜的那些人认为自己很自由、很幸福一样！

曾经我认为

You can't benefit me. I don't have time to listen to your bragging for democratic!

In fact, I want to be safe, affluent, fair, happy, and whether it is not important to be democratic.

事实上，我想要安全、富裕、公平、快乐，是否democratic并不重要。

China is a relatively backward country. I am 30 years old. I was not able to eat enough in the rural areas of my home 23-25 years ago. The corn flour-made cakes (now we all use corn flour to feed pigs) are not enough. The child is hungry and crying.

中国是一个相对落后的国家，我今年30岁，在23–25年前，我家这边的农村吃不饱饭，玉米粉做的糕点(现在我们都用玉米粉喂猪）都不够吃。小孩子饿的哇哇大哭。

As far as I know, the situation of hunger is almost gone.

现在据我所知，吃不饱饭的情况已经几乎没有了。

Not only are there no hungry people, but poor rural areas also basically have family cars.

不仅没有吃不饱饭的情况，而且贫困农村也基本上都有家用汽车了。

Eight years ago, I bought a brand new Jetta. I sold Jetta four years ago and bought a brand new Passat.

8年前，我买了一辆全新捷达，4年前我卖了捷达，买了一辆全新迈腾。

My rural cousin bought a new Santana. Another cousin bought a Wuling Hongguang.

我农村的表弟买了一辆全新桑塔纳。另一个表哥买了一辆五菱宏光。

↑Wuling Hongguang

↑Wuling Hongguang

The biggest dream of my childhood was to have a bicycle. This family has a car life. We didn't even think about it before.

我小时候最大的梦想就是有一个自行车，这种家家户户有汽车的生活，我们以前想都不敢想。

I know that the impression of China's non-democratic is mainly due to several aspects:

我知道，对中国的不democratic的印象主要源于几个方面：

1，Forced demolition . 强拆。

2，The country is full of cameras. 全国遍布摄像头。

3，There are no votes. 没有选票。

4，corruption. 腐败。

I answer these questions based on my personal experience:

我根据自己的亲身经历，回答一下这几个问题：

1, a house with a market price of 200,000 RMB(29662 USD), because the road to be widened, the owner of the house asking for 30 million RMB （4449322 USD）, otherwise refused to demolition.

1，一个市场价格20万的房子，因为要拓宽公路，房子的主人要价3000万，否则拒绝拆迁。

After being rejected by the government, three brothers contacted a lot of media reporters and performed self-immolation.

遭到政府拒绝后，一家兄弟3个人，联系了很多媒体记者，表演自焚。

Why is it a performance?

为什么说是表演？

Before they poured gasoline on themselves, they prepared a large bucket next to them, took pictures of the media after the fire, and then quickly jumped into the water tank.

他们往自己身上泼汽油之前，在旁边准备好了大水缸，点着火之后给媒体拍照，然后赶紧跳进水缸。

At that time, I worked in the Public Security Bureau(8 years ago, because my salary was too low, I resigned). Of the three self-immolating people, two people had nothing to do with their wives, who took water and quilts to their husbands. The third child was a bachelor, no one gave him a fire, so the facial burns were a bit serious.

当时，我在公安局工作（8年前，因为工资太低，我辞职了），三个自焚的人中，两个人没什么事儿，因为他们的老婆在旁边拿水和棉被给自己老公灭火。老三是个单身汉，没人给他灭火，所以面部烧伤有点儿严重。

The government paid the money and sent the third child to the best burn hospital in our country. During the period, each government unit sent 10 people to protect him and take care of him.

政府出钱，送老三去我们本地最好的烧伤医院治疗，期间各机关单位每天派10个人保护他、照顾他。

This third child is a 40-year-old, out-of-to-all rogue. If a male doctor is taking care of him, he can eat and drink, pull himself, and pee.

这个老三是个40多岁的、彻头彻尾的流氓，如果是男医生在旁边照顾他，他能自己吃喝、自己拉屎、撒尿。

If the female nurse is taking care of him, he asks the female nurse to feed him to eat and drink, ask the female nurse to take off his pants, and take his penis to help him pee.

如果是女护士在旁边照顾他，他就要求女护士喂他吃饭喝水、要求女护士给他脱掉裤子、拿着他的阴茎帮他撒尿。

2, since the country has spread across the camera(China is called "Tianwang "or“skynet” monitoring system，“Tianwang” Skynet means: God is watching you.), the national crime rate immediately fell to 1/3 of the previous year.

2，自从全国遍布摄像头之后（中国叫“天网”监控系统，“天网”的意思是：神在看着你），全国犯罪率立刻降到上一年的1/3。

Moreover, the cameras are in public places such as streets, parks, hospitals, schools, etc. I personally do not feel infringe on my privacy.

而且，摄像头都在街道、公园、医院、学校等公共场所，我个人并没有感觉到侵犯我的隐私。

In China, if you commit a crime, it is recommended that you surrender as soon as possible, instead of escaping.

在中国，如果你犯罪，建议你尽快自首，而不是逃逸。

Because in addition to the barren hills and no man's land, you only need to walk on the street and be seen by the camera, you will be caught.

因为除了荒山野岭、无人区，你只要走在大街上，被摄像头看到，就会被抓。

Some people have been wanted for stealing, hiding in the barren hills for more than a year, hungry, no food, no medicine.

曾经有人因为偷窃被通缉，躲在荒山野岭一年多，饿了没有饭吃、病了没有药。

He can only catch rabbits for eat ，every day.

只能每天抓兔子吃。

In the end,he can't stand this kind of life, he can only surrender.

最后实在无法忍受这种生活，只能去自首。

A few days ago, there was a person at the gas station. His car didn’t give money when he added the oil. He also hit the female salesman at the gas station and then drove away.

前几天，有个人在加油站，他的车加完油不给钱，还打了加油站的女销售员，随后开车逃跑了。

According to "God is watching you", the computer immediately draws the offender's escape route and arrests him for 2 hours.

根据“神在看着你”，电脑立刻绘制出这个罪犯的逃跑路线，2个小时抓捕归案。

I am a law-abiding citizen. I don't sin. Why should I be afraid that "God is watching you?"

我是一个守法公民，我又不犯罪，我怕什么“神在看着你”？

Good people are not afraid, they are all afraid of criminals.

好人不会怕，害怕的都是罪犯。

3. I really don't have a ballot. I have never seen a vote.

3，我的确没有选票，我都没见过选票是什么样子。

There are indeed a lot of bureaucratic cultural standards, low moral standards, and low working ability, but they are sitting in a high position.

的确有很多官僚文化水平很低、道德素质很低、工作能力很低，却坐在了很高的位置上。

What government officials are best at is和稀泥 muddy.

政府官员最擅长的事，就是和稀泥。

I don't know how to translate "and mud"

我不知道该如何翻译“和稀泥”

Probably means: the cyclist smashed the red light and then the car that was driven by the law-abiding hit. The traffic police will sentence the car driver to full responsibility. Because, the traffic police will say: You drive a car, he rides a bicycle, obviously you have more money than him, as a rich man, you should help the poor. So you take full responsibility, repair your own car, and repair and treat the cyclist.

大概意思是：骑自行车的人闯红灯，然后被守法驾驶的汽车撞到了。交通警察会判处汽车驾驶员承担全部责任。因为，交警会说：你开汽车，他骑自行车，明显你比他有钱，作为一个富人，你应该帮助穷人。所以你承担全部责任、自己修自己的车、并且要给骑自行车的人修车、治疗。

If it happens by chance that a person is hit by a red light, most people will think that they are unlucky.

如果是偶然一个人闯红灯被撞到，大多数人会自认倒霉。

But in China, cyclists rarely follow traffic rules. Almost all cyclists ignore traffic lights and ride bicycles on the road.

但是在中国，骑自行车的人很少遵守交通规则。几乎所有骑自行车的人都无视红绿灯、在汽车道上骑自行车。

In the past 8 years, China has implemented a civil servant assessment system. If you want to be an official, you must take an examination. If the test scores fail to meet the requirements, you will not be qualified as a civil servant.

最近8年，中国实行公务员考核制度，想要当官，必须考试，考试成绩达不到要求，就没有成为公务员的资格。

Perhaps in another 10–20 years, when these people who enter the government with the test have real power, the society will be better.

或许再过10–20年，当这些凭考试进入政府的人掌握实权之后，这个社会会好一些。

4. Most bureaucrats in China are slow to accept new things and are also very corrupt.

4，中国大部分的官僚接受新事物的速度都很慢，也很腐败。

There are many reasons, but the most important one, I think there are 3 points:

原因有很多，但是最重要的，我认为有3点：

4.1, legal income is too low.

4.1，合法收入太低。

In Handan City, the total area is 1,2073.8 square kilometers, with a total population of 10,514,500, and the total production value in 2017 is 366.63 billion RMB (54370717527 USD).

在邯郸市，总面积12073.8平方公里，总人口1051.45万人，2017年生产总值3666.3亿RMB （54370717527 USD）。

The top leader of Handan City, Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, the annual legal income is only 200,000 RMB（29662USD）.

邯郸市的一把手，邯郸市委书记，每年合法收入只有20万RMB（29662USD）。

Is this fair?

这公平么？

Is this reasonable?

这合理吗？

A BOSS that manages 10.51 million people, should it be a governor in the United States? How much is the annual salary of the governor of the United States?

一个管理1051万人的BOSS，在美国应该算是一个州长了吧？美国的州长在美国拿多少钱？

4.2. Government bureaucrats, large and small, are involved in corruption. If the anti-corruption efforts are too great, these staff members will not be able to eat enough, can not afford housing, and their personal ability is significantly lower than the market conditions. All people are forced to leave, leading to further decline in the ability to govern.

4.2，大大小小的政府官僚都参与腐败，如果反腐力度太大，导致这些工作人员吃不饱饭、买不起房、个人能力的生活水平明显低于市场行情，就会把办事能力强的人全都逼走、导致执政能力进一步下降。

4.3. This is the most important point. People’s income is too low, taxation is too small, and tax evasion is widespread. Taxes are low, and the government has no money to improve the treatment of bureaucrats.

4.3，这是最重要的一点，人民收入太低、纳税太少、而且普遍偷税漏税，税收少、政府就没有钱给官僚提高待遇。

The people have low income and low taxation ability because officials are corrupt.

人民收入少，纳税能力低，因为官员贪腐。

Officials’ legal income is too low and they are forced to choose corruption because they have low incomes and low taxes.

官员合法收入太低、被迫选择贪腐，因为人民收入少、纳税少。

This is a complementary relationship, no one can blame anyone.

这是一个相辅相成的关系，谁都不能怪谁。

Can only say one sentence at a time: Who makes us a relatively backward country? Who has allowed us to modernize only 30 years?

最多只能说一句：谁让我们是相对落后的国家呢？谁让我们现代化的时间只有30年呢？

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

If you have time to care about whether China is democratic, it is better to take a moment to care about why China is not rich.

大家有空关心中国是否democratic，不如花点时间关心一下中国为什么不富裕。

Compared to democratic, I prefer to improve my living standards.

相比于democratic，我更希望提高自己的生活水平。

During this period of Sino-US trade war,

这段时间中美贸易战，

I hope that the United States can exalt China and give China a living path.

我希望美国能对中国高抬贵手、给中国一条活路。

China is just a wage earner. 90% of China's grain is imported from the United States, and 100% of China's high-tech products are imported from the United States.

中国只是一个打工仔，中国90％的粮食从美国进口，中国100％的高科技产品从美国进口。

If there is a trade war, the Chinese will have no food, and the technology has stopped developing and even gone backwards. One million people died of hunger. Where does the United States find such a cheap, so many wage earners provide cheap everyday goods for the American people?

如果搞贸易战，中国人没饭吃，科技停止发展，甚至出现倒退，饿死10亿人，美国还从哪儿找到这么便宜，这么多的打工仔给美国人民提供廉价的日用商品呢？

Please stop the trade war, we still want to work for the United States!

请不要再打贸易战了，我们还想给美国打工！

.............

Another point is that China does not allow discussion of the "Chinese Communist Party."

还有一点，中国不允许讨论“中国共产党”。

Initially, I had 40,000 fans in Quora in China. Later I was canceled by Quorra account because of Deng Xiaoping’s discussion.

原本，我在中国的Quora，有4万粉丝，就因为讨论邓小平，被封号了。

These words I said today will be cancelled if they are issued in China.

今天我说的这些话，如果发布在中国的Quora，也会被封号的。

and I can't stop talking.

而我又憋不住话。

So I can only come to quora to play

所以只能来的Quora混了。

My English is very bad. thank you very much for your patience. If there is a problem with the grammar, please remind me, I will change it.

我的英文很差，感谢你们能耐心看完，如果有语法不对的地方，请提醒我，我会改的。

I want to hear your definition of democracy.
我想听听你对民主有怎么样的定义。

I hope that the democratic system in our country will not only give full feedback to the voices of various regions and various factions, but also safeguard everyone's interests as much as possible and maintain efficient execution.
我希望我国的民主制度既能充分的反馈各个地区和各个派系的声音，又能尽可能的保障每个人的利益，又能保持高效的执行力。

Instead of procrastinating, in a nutshell, the democratic system in which violence occurs. Really, we do not like such a democracy.
而不是拖泥带水，一言不合就发生暴力冲突的民主制度。说真的，这样的民主制度我们不喜欢。

For example:
比如这样：

Or this:
或者这样：

To know that all these news stories have taken the lead in various major media outlets in China have left us with an impression of violence and chaos in democracy. This clashes with our traditional Confucian ideas, and we want harmony and peace, not violence.
要知道这些新闻都是上过中国各大媒体的头条，让我们对民主留下了暴力与混乱的印象。这和我们传统的儒家观念出了冲突，我们希望和谐，而不是暴力。

As a high school student in China, I would like to talk about my idea about this question.

First of all, sorry to disappoint you, but from my perspective, most of the Chinese are just busy working and studying in their daily life, trying their best to keep up with others and stay competitive in such a highly competitive society, which means most of them have no time sitting around thinking about democracy. Most of us are seem to be very satisfied with the current government. Why? Because at least it gives people a peaceful surroundings to live in, to work in, no terrible wars, which helps everyone develop themselves quickly and makes the society a better place for living.

Although the growth of economic has slowed down these years, the market potential of China is still amazing. China has done a great job since 1979, Chairman Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening-up policy, every amazing thing that this great country has done should be count on the leadership of the current government. But meanwhile, it's no doubt that the current government absolutely done something not so good in the past, which cause a few people's death(for example the Tian'anmen Square Movement in 1989). Let's imagine if we just change a brand new government which is more democratic than the current one, can you guarantee that whatever government comes next would be better, and not worse?

Can you?

We just can't take that risk.

What's more, the democracy of China in most of westerners eyes is not REAL democracy. That sounds strange, but in fact, sometimes so called democracy in some people's thoughts just cannot work in other countries. China has a population of more than 1,500,000,000, it's so hard to make the direct democracy happen with such a great number of citizens. Instead, China chose the "indirect" democracy. But in some special areas such as countryside in CN we the people(villagers) can choose their leader by voting on their own. REALLY, ONE BALLOT PER PERSON! Sounds more "democracy" and justice than the electoral system in the US right?

P.S. I strongly against those who says Chinese think democracy is "evil". That's so ridiculous. In my opinion, everyone likes democracy and justice. Some people just express their unconsidered thoughts, what a shame.

P.P.S. it's my first time to write such a long answer in Quora, and my English is not so good so if I make some mistakes on my structures or grammar, I beg ur forgiveness and I would be appreciate if you can point them out.