HRW is a pro-western think tank that frequently cites CIA cutouts like Radio Free Asia. Looking at this document, for example, you can see that it frames public ownership of news media as inherently bad and capitalist news as inherently good. It also frames China as anti-democratic, when it is widely seen by its own citizens to be very democratic:
Overall, you’re just grabbing an anti-communist tool of western governments as a cudgel to bash China. Are there real problems in China? Yes. Is it a “horrible country?” No, far from it, and it’s far better than western imperialist countries that export genocide and plunder the global south.
The form of democracy and the mode of production in China ensures that there is a connection between the people and the state. Policies like the mass line are in place to ensure this direct connection remains. This is why over 90% of the Chinese population supports the government, and why they have such strong perceptions around democracy.
The Chinese political system is based on whole-process people’s democracy, a form of consultative democracy. The local government is directly elected, and then these governments elect people to higher rungs, meaning any candidate at the top level must have worked their way up from the bottom and directly proved themselves. Moreover, the economy in the PRC is socialist, with public ownership as the principle aspect of the economy. Combining this consultative, ground-up democracy with top-down economic planning is the key to China’s success.
I highly recommend Roland Boer’s Socialism in Power: On the History and Theory of Socialist Governance. Socialist democracy has been imperfect, but has gone through a number of changes and adaptations over the years as we’ve learned more from testing theory to practice. Boer goes over the history behind socialist democracy in this textbook.
They seem like the kind of person who thinks the cultural revolution was completely lead by Chairman Mao and not mostly the chaos of warring factions when all power was given to the people with no oversight or discipline.
It’s always amazing to me how these people who have done zero investigation have the sophomoric nerve to speak as if they’re educating other people in the middle of having information poured over their heads with a bucket
China is socialist, not yet communist. It’s run by a communist party, but there is still class struggle. In China, public ownership is the principal aspect of the economy, but there are still other forms of ownership. Communism will exist once all production and distribution has been collectivized.
Secondly, propaganda doesn’t work that way. Read the sources, people believe China is democratic because it is. It has elections, and consultative democracy where the will of the people directs policy. The people rule the system in China. You’re confusing liberal democracy for democracy in general, but what’s interesting about liberal democracy is that really it’s just democracy for capitalists. Having a single main party but broad consensus-building and polling to direct policy is more democratic than picking between a handful of capitalist dominated parties. Plus, China has 8 parties in addition to the CPC that form the government. Finally, there’s nobody with absolute authority in China, so I don’t know what you mean by this.
Overall, I think you’re very confused about socialism and communism, and China in general. Where did you get these ideas from?
There doesn’t have to be a genocide in order to be stapled as a horrible country.
Enjoy this one:
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2026/country-chapters/china
Brought to you by The Human Rights Watch, that voraciously peddled the “babies thrown out of incubators in Kuwait” to justify American Intervention™
HRW is a pro-western think tank that frequently cites CIA cutouts like Radio Free Asia. Looking at this document, for example, you can see that it frames public ownership of news media as inherently bad and capitalist news as inherently good. It also frames China as anti-democratic, when it is widely seen by its own citizens to be very democratic:
Overall, you’re just grabbing an anti-communist tool of western governments as a cudgel to bash China. Are there real problems in China? Yes. Is it a “horrible country?” No, far from it, and it’s far better than western imperialist countries that export genocide and plunder the global south.
The form of democracy and the mode of production in China ensures that there is a connection between the people and the state. Policies like the mass line are in place to ensure this direct connection remains. This is why over 90% of the Chinese population supports the government, and why they have such strong perceptions around democracy.
The Chinese political system is based on whole-process people’s democracy, a form of consultative democracy. The local government is directly elected, and then these governments elect people to higher rungs, meaning any candidate at the top level must have worked their way up from the bottom and directly proved themselves. Moreover, the economy in the PRC is socialist, with public ownership as the principle aspect of the economy. Combining this consultative, ground-up democracy with top-down economic planning is the key to China’s success.
I highly recommend Roland Boer’s Socialism in Power: On the History and Theory of Socialist Governance. Socialist democracy has been imperfect, but has gone through a number of changes and adaptations over the years as we’ve learned more from testing theory to practice. Boer goes over the history behind socialist democracy in this textbook.
China isn’t socialism, it’s communism. The people might think it’s a democracy, but a fair share of propaganda probably helped them see it that way.
Having a single party political system is not democratic.
Having a single person with absolute authority is not socialistic.
You think Xi has absolute power? Not even Mao had absolute power.
They seem like the kind of person who thinks the cultural revolution was completely lead by Chairman Mao and not mostly the chaos of warring factions when all power was given to the people with no oversight or discipline.
You understand neither socialism nor communism. Read a book.
It’s always amazing to me how these people who have done zero investigation have the sophomoric nerve to speak as if they’re educating other people in the middle of having information poured over their heads with a bucket
China is socialist, not yet communist. It’s run by a communist party, but there is still class struggle. In China, public ownership is the principal aspect of the economy, but there are still other forms of ownership. Communism will exist once all production and distribution has been collectivized.
Secondly, propaganda doesn’t work that way. Read the sources, people believe China is democratic because it is. It has elections, and consultative democracy where the will of the people directs policy. The people rule the system in China. You’re confusing liberal democracy for democracy in general, but what’s interesting about liberal democracy is that really it’s just democracy for capitalists. Having a single main party but broad consensus-building and polling to direct policy is more democratic than picking between a handful of capitalist dominated parties. Plus, China has 8 parties in addition to the CPC that form the government. Finally, there’s nobody with absolute authority in China, so I don’t know what you mean by this.
Overall, I think you’re very confused about socialism and communism, and China in general. Where did you get these ideas from?