Do you need democracy?

Mao Zedong or in correct spelling Mao Tse Tung.
(December 26 1893 – September 9, 1976)
Was a Chinese military and political leader who led the Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory against the Kuomintang (KMT) in the Chinese Civil War, and was the leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976.

However, in 2002 Jiang Zemin declared that "Inner party democracy is the life of the party." It could promote democracy in the country as a whole. But why would China want to be democratised after the dicatorial efforts of the party to squash any kind of dissent, (as seen most in the bloody suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989)?

Hu Jintao, who came to power in 2002, has emphasised the principle of centralism which means upholding party decisions without dissent.

This sounds typical of harsh Communist rule, where no one gets a say in the policies or governance of the nation. But maybe this all just points to one very obvious idea: China is not suited to Western style democracy.

Mao Zedong briefly played with the "tenure system", which "gives delegates to party congresses notional supervisory power over officials for the entire five years of a confress, instead of just for one meeting at the beginning of it. It also gives delegates some say in the appointment of party officials."

After the tenure system was revived in the 1980s, it was found that, by the time Hu Jintao came to power, it was not working. Villages were fighting over the roles of elected leaders and ancient clan rivalries had begun to resurface. Rural protests showed that even village level democracy had not helped the well being of individuals or made them happier.

The tenure system has failed and China is and will not be democratised.