Soundbites

Experts shared their views on democracy at a webinar on the quality of democracy in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, on Friday. The webinar was led by the China Society for Human Rights Studies and hosted by Northwest University of Political Science and Law's Research Center for Human Rights.

The political development path and democratic model a country chooses depend on its historical and cultural traditions as well as its level of economic and social development. To judge whether a country is democratic or not, the key lies in "whether the people are truly masters of the country".

Yang Zongke, president of Northwest University of Political Science and Law

The key for a political community to avoid political decline and obtain political order is not the form of democracy, but the quality of democracy.

Ou Shujun, associate professor at the School of International Studies of Renmin University of China in Beijing

China creatively put forward the concept of whole-process people's democracy, which recognizes the diversity of human democracy.

Qian Jinyu, executive deputy director of the Research Center for Human Rights of the Northwest University of Political Science and Law

People's democracy led by the proletariat has made fundamental innovations in concept, system and practice. It has realized the essence of the people as masters of their own country and is a kind of high-quality democracy.

Zhang Shiwei, professor at the School of Political Science and Public Administration of the Northwest University of Political Science and Law

In recent years, economic, social and political inequality in the United States has worsened, and the US democracy has increasingly degraded into an oligarchy of the minority.

Wei Nanzhi, researcher at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of American Studies

The social problems caused by guns have been on the rise in the US, but the government is controlled by the arms dealers and political groups. Its inaction on gun control has led the US into a vicious cycle of institutional problems with guns. It "has democracy in name but not in reality" in this regard.

Jiang Yan, doctor in law at Shanghai Normal University