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人口规模巨大的中国式现代化与

大家的事商量着办的中国式民主

Chinese Modernization of a Huge Population 

And 

Chinese Democracy that Solves Public Matters Through Consultation 

当代中国与世界研究院特约研究员，复旦大学中国研究院研究员、副院长范勇鹏

By FAN Yongpeng, Special Research Fellow at the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies, Research Fellow and Deputy Dean of the China Institute, Fudan University

两会是中国政治生活中的一件大事，其中一个重点事项就是审议立法法修正草案，将“坚持和发展全过程人民民主”写入立法法。

A key item on the agenda of this year’s Two Sessions as a major political event in China is to deliberate the amendment to the Legislation Law of the People’s Republic of China and thus incorporate “upholding and developing the whole-process people’s democracy” into the Law.

中共二十大提出了“中国式现代化”，中国式现代化四大本质特征的第一条就是“人口规模巨大的现代化”。习近平主席讲过，中国式现代化蕴含着独特民主观，这个民主观就是全过程人民民主观。那么，巨大的人口规模，自然也是理解全过程人民民主的一个重要切入点。

As to “Chinese modernization”, the term was put forward at the 20th CPC National Congress. Among the four fundamental features of Chinese modernization, the first one is that “it is the modernization of a huge population”. As President Xi Jinping once put it, Chinese modernization implies a unique democracy – the whole-process people’s democracy. To fully appreciate this concept, it is important to understand what such a huge population means for China.

民主这个词产生于古代希腊。什么样的国家适合什么样的制度，是有一定历史规律的。古典意义上的民主，都是在极小的城邦国家产生的。基本特征就是两条：一是所有公民都来直接参政，二是少数服从多数。这种民主不搞代议制，因而主要的制度形式也不是选举。不管是古希腊的民主城邦，还是中世纪意大利的小型民主共和国，主要采取的都是抽签制度。当然，所有这些民主国家，都只是极少数公民内部的民主。绝大多数人要么是奴隶，要么是庶民，没有政治权利。所以这种民主绝不是普通劳动者想要的民主。

The word democracy originated in ancient Greece. There are some historical laws as to what kind of system suits which countries. Democracy in its classic definition always appeared in tiny city-states. It had two basic characteristics: (1) all citizens could participate in state governance directly, and (2) the opinions of the majority shall prevail. There was no representative system back then, so election was not the primary institutional form. Instead, a lottery system was adopted both in the city-states of ancient Greece and Italy’s small republics in the Middle Ages. In all those democratic states, however, democracy was just a privilege reserved for a handful of citizens, whereas the majority of the people were either slaves or plebeians with no political rights. It was by no means the kind of democracy that ordinary laborers would want. 

这种民主小国有个大问题，就是生存能力堪忧，所以经过短暂的实践之后，这些国家的民主制度都失败了。从古希腊哲学家到近代欧洲启蒙思想家，都认为国家大了搞不了民主，因而大都认为民主不是一种好制度。客观上，欧洲国家从中世纪末期也大都向着中央集权的王权制度演进，这一点与世界各文明是有共性的。

A major problem with this kind of small democracies is their poor viability, which is why their democratic systems all failed after a short period of practice. From ancient Greek philosophers to modern Enlightenment thinkers in Europe, it was generally believed that democracy was impossible in big states, hence a bad system. In fact, since the end of the Middle Ages, most European states have evolved toward the centralization of power, a phenomenon shared by all civilizations worldwide.  

但是欧洲有两点极特殊的情况，一是近代之前长期停滞于封建制度阶段，也就是有点类似于中国西周的制度，而且还达不到中国西周的制度水平。封建贵族制度里产生出了议会制和选举制的雏形。章太炎就曾经指出，议会政体是封建的变体。其实中国上古时期也都有类似的制度，但是在中国人追求大一统和天下为公的历史进程中，这些制度在秦汉之后被淘汰了。二是欧洲开启了资本主义的现代化。资本主义以私有制为基础，是一种私权体系。封建制度也是一种私权体系。两种私权体系的制度很容易相通。所以新兴的资产阶级要掌握国家政权，就可以非常方便地继承发展封建制度遗产，创造出现代的代议制。这就是今天西方所谓代议制民主的渊源。

But two special situations in Europe must be noted. One is that the continent stagnated in the stage of feudal system for a long time before entering the modern times, during which it was somewhat similar to the Western Zhou Dynasty in Chinese history, but of a less developed institutional level. It was from the feudal aristocracy that the parliamentary system and the election system stemmed. Chang Tai-yen, a democratic revolutionary and thinker in the late Qing Dynasty, called the parliamentary system a variation of feudalism. Similar systems existed in China in ancient times, but they were abandoned after the Qin and Han Dynasties as the Chinese pursued national unity in the belief that the world belonged to all. The other is that Europe is where capitalist modernization began. Capitalism is a system of private rights based on private ownership. Feudalism is a system of private rights too. The two systems therefore have much in common. As a result, when the emerging capitalist class tried to control state power, they could easily inherit and develop the feudal legacy and create the modern representative system, which has later evolved into the so-called representative democracy that we see in the West today. 

代议制解决了小规模民主的困境。国家变大了，新兴贵族和资本家可以通过选出代表组成议会，隐藏在代议制幕后间接掌握国家权力。马克思说资产阶级的所谓民主制就是每隔几年决定一次“由统治阶级中什么人在议会里当人民的假代表”。王绍光教授将这种民主称为“选主”，也就是人民形式上可以参加选举，选出一些人来当自己的主人，然后政权和人民就没有关系了。

The representative system has solved the dilemma of small-scale democracy. When a state grows bigger, emerging aristocrats and capitalists can elect their representatives to form a parliament, while they themselves can be the true power holders behind the scenes. According to Marx, the so-called democracy of the capitalist class was “to decide once in three or six years which member of the ruling class was to misrepresent the people in Parliament”. This is called “master choosing” by Professor Wang Shaoguang. In other words, the people could nominally vote to elect some people to be their masters, and then they would have nothing to do with the regime anymore. 

中国能不能采取这种制度呢？肯定是不行，我认为有两方面原因。

Is it possible to transplant this kind of system to China? The answer is negative for two reasons. 

首先，中国文化崇尚民本。不同于各种以神为本和以资为本的文明，中华文明从上古时期就产生了以民为本的观念。从尧舜到周公，从孔孟到孙中山，中国人都是在追求公天下、民为本。当然，只有中国真正做到了这一点，真正践行了立党为公，执政为民。

First of all, the Chinese culture puts the people first. Unlike civilizations that put God or capital first, the Chinese civilization has always put the people first since time immemorial. From legendary rulers Yao and Shun to Zhou Gong, the founding father of Western Zhou, from philosophers Confucius and Mencius to the revolutionary pioneer and leader Sun Yat-sen, Chinese people have never ceased their pursuit for a people-centric world for all. In fact, China is the only country in the world that has truly achieved this goal – the Party is committed to serving public good and exercising power for the people. 

其次，中国规模巨大，广土众民。

Second, China has too vast a territory and too huge a population. 

在小国里，大家七嘴八舌，一起商量决定事情，问题不大。一是政治事务没那么复杂，七嘴八舌不会带来大祸；二是利益、意见、文化没那么复杂，社会分裂的风险不大，国家政治不容易被某种特殊利益团体所绑架。

It would be perfectly practical in a small country to decide something through the consultation of all people because, for one thing, political matters in such a country are not so complicated as to have trouble from such extensive consultation. For another, the interests, opinions and cultures in such a country are not so complicated as to contain the risk of social splits, and state politics are not likely to be kidnapped by a certain vested interest group. 

今天的西方国家比历史上的民主小国大多了。它们用代议制、联邦制等制度，把小国给拼接成大国，这样的好处是保留了一些小国民主的要素，坏处是也放大了小国民主的弊端。比如，民选代表只为选区利益代言，地方性成为痼疾。立法、决策过程中各种利益集团游说博弈，让政治权力变成分赃游戏。资本和精英群体擅长组成政党或NGO，也惯于利用法律为自己谋利，而没有能力参与博弈的人，他们的利益就得不到关注。党争更是造成了无原则的反对、互泼脏水。总之西方的民主观念是“只见其小，不见其大”。整体性成为最大的软肋。

Western countries today are much larger than the democratic city-states of the past. They have bound the small democracies together through representative system, federal system and the like, an expansion that has both pros – maintaining the democratic elements – and cons – magnifying the drawbacks of small democracies. For instance, the elected representatives only represent the interests of their respective electoral districts, leading to the chronic social ill of provincialism. The lobbying and gaming among various interest groups during legislation and decision making have turned the exercise of political power into a dirty game of spoils. Capitalists and elites can always form a political party or NGO and are adept at taking advantage of the law in their favor, whereas those unable to join the game never receive any attention. Different parties are engaged in mutual opposition and mud-slinging without good reason. In sum, with the Western concept of democracy, political parties are too narrow-minded and self-interested to heed public good or the big picture. 

中国自古就是大国，有丰富的制度经验。在大国中，维持统一、稳定的秩序是极其艰巨的挑战，要求以维护整体性和共同利益。《尚书》有一篇叫《洪范》，洪范就是天地之大法，讲的是周武王灭商之后，向纣王的叔叔箕子请教治国理政的道理。其中有一句就是讲，治理天下要平正，不能基于私心而作威作福，特别要反对任何人结党营私，“无偏无党，王道荡荡”。

China is a large country since ancient times with rich experience in institution. It is extremely challenging for a large country to maintain unity and stability and safeguard integrity and common interests. In the Book of History, there is a chapter called “Hong Fan”, which means the law of governance. It tells the story of Emperor Wu of the Zhou Dynasty, after vanquishing the Shang Dynasty, asking the vanquished emperor’s uncle Ji Zi for advice on how to run a country. The article says, one must be impartial and just in governance, should not act like a tyrant out of selfish motives, and should object to anyone forming a clique to pursue selfish interests. As the old saying goes, “a state will be well governed when there is no partiality or clique”.

但是客观而言，大国的体量导致实现真正的人民当家作主难度很大，因而古代中国虽然最早提出“民惟邦本”的理念，强调“民贵君轻”，但始终未发展到“民惟邦主”。原因就是，民本与民主之间，隔着一个规模因素的阻碍。

Yet it is difficult to see the people truly become the masters of a large country. Despite its initiation of the idea that “the people are the foundation of a state” and the emphasis that “the people are more valuable than the emperor”, China never really achieved that until modern times. This is because the huge population presents a major hurdle on the way from “people first” to “democracy”.

谁打破了这个阻碍呢？中国共产党。张维为教授认为中国共产党是一个“整体利益党”。中国共产党不同于西方的“部分利益党”。中国共产党是人民的先锋队，直接代表着最广大人民的意志来领导国家。就像习近平主席所说，中国共产党“不代表任何利益集团、任何权势团体、任何特权阶层的利益”。这其实是对中国三千年政道的继承发展。

It is the CPC that has finally removed this hurdle. Professor Zhang Weiwei called the CPC “a party representing the common interests of all”, which is different from the Western parties that represent partial or local interests. The CPC is the vanguard of the Chinese people. It leads the country on behalf of the greatest possible majority of the Chinese people. As President Xi Jinping said, the CPC doesn’t “represent any interest group, establishment group, or privileged social group”. This description is a continuation of the principle of governance that has been upheld for 3,000 years in the country. 

放在这个背景下，我们就很容易理解全过程人民民主的含义。中国十四亿人口的民主，显然不能靠西方那种基于间歇性选举和特殊利益博弈的代议制的民主，而要靠贯穿于政治生活所有领域、所有环节、所有层次的全过程民主。小到乡村里的砍柴担水、邻里间的家长里短，大到国家立法行政、发展战略，都是用大家事大家商量的办法来解决。

It is easy, against such a background, to understand what whole-process people’s democracy means. With a population of 1.4 billion, China obviously cannot adopt the Western representative democracy featuring intermittent elections and the game of special interests. What it needs is a whole-process democracy that covers all areas, all links and all levels of political life. Be it the daily routines in villages or neighborly trivialities, or state legislation, administration and development strategies, everything concerning the people is done through the consultation of all people. 

中国更强调共识的达成，反对轻易票决，小到基层党组织，大到全国人大立法，投票之前都要进行充分的酝酿协商，让不同意见相向而行，聚少数成多数，而不是简单地让多数压倒少数。像美国那种在国会里用一票的优势来立法，大选里以一票之差来选总统，绝对不是中国要的民主。

Compared with rushing anything to a vote, China places more stress on reaching a consensus. Whether within primary-level Party organizations or for legislation at the NPC, there would be full and extensive consultation before members vote for a decision, so that those of different opinions could find more common ground and meet each other halfway, and an overwhelming consensus could be reached rather than simply overriding the minority. The American type of democracy – to pass a bill at the Congress or to elect a president by having one more vote – is not what China wants. 

最最重要的一点，中国民主须臾不能离开中国共产党的领导。在文化极其多元、利益无比复杂、发展仍不均衡的中国，只有中国共产党可以让各地各界产生出来的人大代表成为全国人大代表，只有中国共产党可以让各地区、各行业、各民族的利益汇聚成中华民族的整体利益，只有中国共产党可以实现统一性与多样性的统一。这是全过程人民民主最本质的优越性，也是中国民主之所以当得起这个“全”字的根本原因。

Most important of all, the Chinese democracy should always be under the leadership of the CPC. In China, a country of extremely diversified cultures, extremely complicated interests, and highly uneven development, the CPC is the only Party that can make sure the people’s representatives elected in each place can serve as NPC deputies, can converge the interests of various regions, industries and ethnic groups into the overall interests of the Chinese nation, and can harmonize unity with diversity. That is the essential superiority of the whole-process people’s democracy. That is the fundamental reason why Chinese democracy is for the whole process and the whole people.