China, a Peoples’ Republic?

In China, one could be threatened, persecuted, prosecuted, arrested, or exiled for talking about democracy. Instead, one could talk about republic (Gonghe in Chinese) since China is self-claimed a Peoples’ Republic country.

I vaguely remember when I was young I once asked someone, “What is a republic”, because nobody had ever explained to me what one was. I could not recall whether I received an answer or could not understand the answer. Anyway, I interpreted gonghe as harmony, verbatim et literatim. It was a comfortable explanation for me at that time.

After coming to America, I did not give much thought on the subject of a republic. To me, it is the name for a political party; its meaning did not seem to be too important. While preparing for my naturalization interview, I learned about it from the “Quick Civic Lessons” about America. I was not aware that America is actually a Republic, like China. What a surprise this was to me. In my knowledge, America was famous for its democracy. I realized that I was wrong about the definition of republic for so many years, like one who was in the Allegory of the Cave. For America, a Republic is, “When a country’s political power comes from the citizens, not the rulers, and is put into use by representatives elected by the citizens.” Note that this statement was quoted from the “Quick Civic Lessons”; it is not at all written to be against China, but for all immigrants with a desire to be American citizens. The name of the United States of America does not mention if it is a democracy or a republic, yet America has the Checks and Balances, a concept for structuring a republic by the Renaissance thinker Niccolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527). I cannot help but feel ridiculous for those countries whose names include the words “republic” or “democracy”, but in truth are subject to an absolutist, if not a totalitarian.

Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) was a pro-absolutist. In his work on Leviathan, he addressed that the only way to establish an absolute Common Power or Sovereign Power is for people to reach a Covenant of every man with every man, to say to one another mutually, ‘I Authorise and give up my Right of Governing my selfe, to this Man, or to this Assembly of men, on this condition, that thou give up thy Right to him, and Authorise all his Actions in like manner.’ Therefore, the Person who carries the power is called Sovereign. In Hobbes’s view, as many Chinese people share the same view, only under this absolute ruler, people could be secured enough to pursue their personal interests. Yet he rejected the Monarch from God, for “there is no Covenant with God”, and “this pretence of Covenant with God is so evident a [lie]”. I don’t know when and how the Chinese people had a Covenant with the absolutist, or be subordinated to the totalitarian. In truth, John Locke (1632 – 1704) contradicted Hobbes’s absolutism, said that “all mankind in general, it can have no other end or measure, when in the hands of the magistrate, but to preserve the members of that society in their lives, liberties, and possessions;” that meant human beings initially never had a Covenant with any government to hand out their natural rights voluntarily and consciously.

The Chinese government’s power comes from the ruling party —nobody can deny this fact. The government claims it cares about the rights of the citizens, but presently, it cares only the right of life by feeding its citizens. Other rights, like liberty or the Checks and Balances, cannot be considered at the present; its citizens must wait for those other rights to be granted until China is richer and stronger. It seems to me the Chinese are glad to be fed for their lives, and are willing to wait for other rights of freedom to be granted. Why not? If “heaven can wait”, as someone says, let us wait for that day to happen.