Ideological debate over democracy in China has existed in Chinese politics since the 19th century. Chinese scholars, thinkers, and policy-makers have debated about democracy, an idea which was first imported by Western colonial powers but which some argue also has connections to classic Chinese thinking. Starting in the mid-eighteenth century, many Chinese argued about how to deal with Western culture. Though Chinese Confucians were initially opposed to Western modes of thinking, it became clear that aspects of the West were appealing. Industrialization gave the West an economic and military advantage. The Qing dynasty's defeats in the Opium Wars compelled a segment of Chinese politicians and intellectuals to rethink their notion of cultural and political superiority.[1]
Democracy entered the Chinese consciousness because it was the form of government used in the West, potentially responsible for its industrial, economic and military advancements. A segment of Chinese scholars and politicians became persuaded that democratization and industrialization were imperative for a competitive China. In response, a number of scholars resisted the idea, saying democracy and Westernization had no place in traditional Chinese culture. Liang Shuming's opinion was most popular, holding that democracy and traditional Chinese society were completely incompatible, hence China's only choice was either wholesale Westernization or complete rejection of the West.[2] The debate centered on the philosophical compatibility of traditional Chinese Confucian beliefs and the technologies of the West.[3]
China is not a liberal or representative democracy. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese government state that China is a socialist democracy and a people's democratic dictatorship.[4] Under Xi Jinping, China is also termed a whole-process people's democracy.[5] [6] Many foreign and some domestic observers categorize China as an authoritarian one-party state, with some saying it has shifted to neoauthoritarianism.[7] Some characterize it as a dictatorship.[8]
The constitution of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the CCP constitution state that its form of government is "people's democratic dictatorship". The state constitution also holds that China is a one-party state that is governed by the CCP. This gives the CCP a total monopoly of political power. All political opposition is illegal. Currently, there are eight minor political parties in China other than the CCP that are legal, but all have to accept CCP primacy to exist.[9] Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are severely restricted by the government.[10] Censorship is widespread and dissent is harshly punished in the country.[11]
The most common modern translation for the English words democracy and democratic in East Asian languages is .[12] [13] [14] [15] However, in classical Chinese, the compound could be interpreted as either a genitive noun phrase which would translate to "people's lord;" or a subject–verb phrase which would translate to "the people govern." The genitive-noun-phrase interpretation was well known in China as a way to refer to the reigning emperor,[16] and was synonymous with another classical word, .
The first use of mínzhǔ that deviated from the two above interpretions was found in William Alexander Parsons Martin's seminal 1863 translated book, .[16] [17] In order to translate the phrase "whether monarchical or republican," Martin made use of the contrast between and . The genitive-noun-phrase interpretation would render such translation meaningless, therefore, it has been argued that the subject-verb interpretation was intended here.[18] Furthermore, Martin also translated "democratic republic" as, meaning mínzhǔ actually encapsulated both "republic(an)" and "democratic."[16] The word mínzhǔ went on to be a popular translation for republic in multiple bilingual dictionaries.[19] On the other hand, given that republicanism and democracy were completely foreign to the Chinese under monarchical Qing rule, authors often employed the "people's lord" meaning (genitive-noun-phrase interpretation) analogously. 19th-century newspapers in China (especially those published by Westerners) often equated America's head of state, the President, to China's head of state, the Emperor. An 1874 issue of the paper used the phrases