"Let the light of Chinese democracy shine even brighter, so that China can ... contribute to the building of a better, higher quality [form of] democracy for humanity in the 21st century."
It’s the misappropriation of the meaning of “democracy” that rivals the deconstructionist cant of academic darlings like foucoult and Derida. Redefine any any concept to mean what you want it to mean. After, nothing means anything anyway. It’s intellectual nihilism appropriated by the self-appointed annointed.Recall that East Germany was the GDR (DDR)- the German Democratic Republic. Meanwhile it was a stasi-infected society surpassed only by Ceaucescu’s Romania. In any case, it was very intersting to read about. Yet the idea of the GDR as a democracy is risible.
China is not authoritarian. It has its own brand of democracy that works well. (The West doesn’t get to define what is and isn’t democracy.)
Edelman Trust Barometer 2023 shows that 89 percent of Chinese trust their government.
The Global Happiness 2023 survey from Ipsos shows that China is the happiest country in the world at 91 percent.
Latana’s Democracy Perception Index 2022 shows that 83 percent of Chinese believe their country is democratic making it the most democratic nation on earth!
Ash Center at Harvard Kennedy School in 2020 reported that 95.5 percent of Chinese are satisfied with their government.
A 2019 UC San Diego study shows a high level of satisfaction among the Chinese across a range of aspects up to 95 percent.
A November 2019 Ipsos survey shows that 95 percent of Chinese believe their country is on the right track.
The statistical evidence is overwhelming. Western countries, especially the United States, can only dream of having such numbers.
A few years ago, I took a bike tour around the the path of the Berlin Wall- a surprisingly long 100km plus trek. It was dotted with memorials to those East Germans shot by members of their own army trying to escape to West Berlin. I can't recall a single memorial of a West German soldier shooting a West German citizen escaping to East Germany. `The traffic was one way. Just as no one ever risked his life in a rubber dinghy to escape from Florida to Cuba.
As someone who is deeply familiar with the history of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, (lived there, speak languages) this is breathtakingly misguided. and naive assessment of a Communist dictatorship run by a few hundred members of a nomenklatura. That said, I applaud the editors and substack for publishing such unconventional views that would never make it to Foreign Affairs.
Excellent essay on Chinese Democracy versus American Democracy.
It would be helpful if you offered pdf copies of the essay, making it easier to disseminate the essay to those not wanting to follow links to sites they are not familiar with.
Why Chinese Democracy is Better than Western Democracy According to Tsinghua Prof. Yan Yilong
It’s the misappropriation of the meaning of “democracy” that rivals the deconstructionist cant of academic darlings like foucoult and Derida. Redefine any any concept to mean what you want it to mean. After, nothing means anything anyway. It’s intellectual nihilism appropriated by the self-appointed annointed.Recall that East Germany was the GDR (DDR)- the German Democratic Republic. Meanwhile it was a stasi-infected society surpassed only by Ceaucescu’s Romania. In any case, it was very intersting to read about. Yet the idea of the GDR as a democracy is risible.
China is not authoritarian. It has its own brand of democracy that works well. (The West doesn’t get to define what is and isn’t democracy.)
Edelman Trust Barometer 2023 shows that 89 percent of Chinese trust their government.
The Global Happiness 2023 survey from Ipsos shows that China is the happiest country in the world at 91 percent.
Latana’s Democracy Perception Index 2022 shows that 83 percent of Chinese believe their country is democratic making it the most democratic nation on earth!
Ash Center at Harvard Kennedy School in 2020 reported that 95.5 percent of Chinese are satisfied with their government.
A 2019 UC San Diego study shows a high level of satisfaction among the Chinese across a range of aspects up to 95 percent.
A November 2019 Ipsos survey shows that 95 percent of Chinese believe their country is on the right track.
The statistical evidence is overwhelming. Western countries, especially the United States, can only dream of having such numbers.
A few years ago, I took a bike tour around the the path of the Berlin Wall- a surprisingly long 100km plus trek. It was dotted with memorials to those East Germans shot by members of their own army trying to escape to West Berlin. I can't recall a single memorial of a West German soldier shooting a West German citizen escaping to East Germany. `The traffic was one way. Just as no one ever risked his life in a rubber dinghy to escape from Florida to Cuba.
As someone who is deeply familiar with the history of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, (lived there, speak languages) this is breathtakingly misguided. and naive assessment of a Communist dictatorship run by a few hundred members of a nomenklatura. That said, I applaud the editors and substack for publishing such unconventional views that would never make it to Foreign Affairs.
Excellent essay on Chinese Democracy versus American Democracy.
It would be helpful if you offered pdf copies of the essay, making it easier to disseminate the essay to those not wanting to follow links to sites they are not familiar with.
This seems like propaganda for China. I have never heard of their style of government as democratic.