A country as vast and populous as China cannot be ruled as a liberal constitutional democracy, argue Chinese Communist party and government officials — and many others — who personally benefit from the country’s current political status quo. In his forthcoming book, Why China Needs Democracy, Dongxian Jiang argues that they are wrong.
Illustration by Nate Kitch
In the summer of 2024, I embarked on a journey through the Dongbei Provinces — China’s northeast, historically known as Manchuria. The high-speed rail network made it easy to glide from city to city in comfort. But one leg of my trip took me off the modern grid: I planned to visit a Liao Dynasty Buddhist temple in a remote county, reachable only by a slow, regular-speed train that connects small towns and county seats across the region.
Dongxian Jiang's book Why China Needs Democracy, re
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