Minzhu in the People’s Congress: Understanding the Chinese Way of Understanding Representative Democracy

Abstract

Simplistic democracy-autocracy dichotomies can poison the Australia-China relationship because they lend space to suspicion and fear, and shut down dialogues and interactions. To debunk value narratives that have led to increasingly polarised and oversimplified perceptions about China, this chapter examines how minzhu—the Chinese equivalent to democracy that consists of two characters (min meaning “people” and zhu “rule”)—is practised in the PRC through its parliamentary system, the People’s Congress, and argues that minzhu is not understood and practised as a particular type of government but a conceptual aspiration for realisation of such ideas as minquan (sovereignty of the people), minyi (public opinion) and minsheng (people’s livelihood). All these ideas are pre-fixed by min—the people, demanding much space allowing for dynamics of democracy at local levels, which in turn feeds into democratic satisfaction and popular support. The author believes that a healthy Australia-China relationship can benefit from mutual understanding and engagement, and calls for wisdom and creativity in negotiating differences.