Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1656-W1197

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1656-W1197

Release Date: April 6, 2024

发布日：2024年4月6日

Topic: What Kind of Democracy Is More Suitable for China (Part 5) -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：什么样的民主更适合中国（之五） -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

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What Kind of Democracy Is More Suitable for China (Part 5)

-- Wei Jingsheng

When we talk about free market economy, we have to talk about small government and big society. In the Han Dynasty BC, the Chinese realized the law of excessive officials disturbing the people. In the early stages of their economic take-off, the British also realized the connotation of the officialdom disease, which was a vicious circle in which too many officials created government affairs, and in order to cope with the affairs they had to increase the number of officials, creating troubles and burdens for the people and society. Therefore, the sages from Montesquieu's generation took ancient China as an ideal model and put forward the principle of learning from ancient China's small government and big society.

Can society be managed well if there are too many officials? Wrong. There were not many officials in the early years of every dynasty in ancient China, and the officials sent by the state were only sent to the county magistrate level. Management at that time is often the best time. After that, redundancy gradually increased, management gradually became chaotic and ineffective, and expenses increased significantly. So big government does not mean effective governance.

So what is the secret of small government that Montesquieu envied? That is grassroots autonomy. In accordance with the unified laws of the country and combined with the specific conditions of the local area or community, managing yourself is the most economical and effective management model. American democracy originated from local self-government, and the united self-government system is the American Federation.

Since both ancient China and modern Western countries can be established under the effective management of local autonomy, why is there a need for a big government that takes care of individuals and details? It has to be said that this is the socialist model created by the Bolsheviks who inherited feudal serfdom. It is a feudal model that manages the people as serfs -- a model that facilitates the establishment of autocratic slavery where a few people rule over the majority.

However, the Chinese people have been accustomed to freedom for more than two thousand years and are not suitable to be serfs. They are unwilling to accept this model of personal control. This resulted in a serious conflict between the government and the people. The local emperors not only had to control how people burned coal for heating, but also how many children they may have. In order to achieve the targets set by the big leaders, they did not hesitate to smash farmers' rice cookers to make steel, and they did not hesitate to create pollution to achieve GDP. Their ultimate goal is to maintain the absolute authority of the dictatorship.

Why was local autonomy managed so well in ancient China, and even foreign invaders had to accept the Chinese model when they entered the Central Plains of China? Why do Americans manage local self-government so well? Are the Chinese inferior and mentally retarded? These rumors created by Literati who like to brown their noses in an effort to help the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have indeed paralyzed the IQ of the Chinese people. A bunch of ignorant Chinese indeed think that they are an inferior race and are not worthy of enjoying the same democracy as others. They really think that they have inferior Asian values. These rumors are conducive to the authoritarian rule of the CCP.

The institutional evolution of ancient China stagnated because the autocratic political management model of the market economy could still be maintained, and also because there were no wise people to invent the modern democratic model. But in an era when the world has evolved into democracy empowered countries, Chinese people with lofty ideals have also quickly caught up with the world trend. However, the CCP introduced the Soviet-Russian feudal system, interrupting the pace of institutional evolution in China. It made China regress back to the feudal society of the Zhou Dynasty three thousand years ago, and even more so than its predecessors.

The so-called reform and opening up of Deng Xiaoping was only a half-baked evolution to a semi-market economy, coupled with authoritarian politics. It also had the tail of a Soviet-style planned economy. It is worse than the full market economy plus semi-authoritarian politics of the ancient dynasty era in China. This may be a psychological tendency of the Chinese people who like to watch ancient costumed dramas and envy the ancient people.

Therefore, democratization in China is not about restoring the ancient system, nor is it satisfies with the CCP's half-baked reforms and tinkering. Rather, it is necessary to introduce Western democratic systems and ensure a truly free market economy on the premise of restoring traditional local autonomy in China. That is to say, we must take over the torch of establishing a democratic republic at the beginning of the last century, end the autocracy of the CCP, and rebuild a republic in China.

(This English version is translated by Ciping HUANG, without any compensation. Wei Jingsheng and the Wei Jingsheng Foundation appreciate her decades of contribution, especially for allowing the use and distribution of her translations of these commentaries.)

Original link of this commentary:

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-04052024095358.html

To hear Mr. Wei Jingsheng's related commentary, please visit:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/RFA/RFA2024/WeiJS240317onAncientChina5.mp3

Related screenshot of Wei Jingsheng’s commentary on RFA website:

http://www.weijingsheng.org/pic/newsletters/newsletters2024/newsletters2024-2/WeiJSonAncientChinaE240405RFApage.jpg

(Written on March 12, 2024 and recorded on March 17, 2024. Broadcasted by Radio Free Asia on April 5, 2024.)

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中文版

Wei Jingsheng Foundation News and Article: A1656-W1197

魏京生基金会新闻与文章发布号：A1656-W1197

Release Date: April 6, 2024

发布日：2024年4月6日

Topic: What Kind of Democracy Is More Suitable for China (Part 5) -- Wei Jingsheng

标题：什么样的民主更适合中国（之五） -- 魏京生

Original Language Version: Chinese (Chinese version at the end)

此号以中文为准（英文在前，中文在后）

如有中文乱码问题，请与我们联系或访问：

http://www.weijingsheng.org/report/report2024/report2024-4/WeiJS240406onAncientChina5A1656-W1197.htm

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什么样的民主更适合中国（之五）

-- 魏京生

谈到自由市场经济，就要谈到小政府大社会了。中国人在公元前的汉朝就意识到了官多扰民的规律。英国人在经济起飞的初期，也意识到官场病的内涵，就是官多制造政府事务，为应付事务就要增加官员数量的恶性循环，给老百姓和社会制造麻烦和负担。因此从孟德斯鸠那一代的先贤们，就以中国古代为理想模型，提出了学习中国古代的小政府大社会的原则。

官多了就能管理好社会吗？错。中国古代每一个王朝初年官员都不多，而且国家派遣的官员只派到县官一级。那个时候的管理往往是最好的时候。之后冗员逐渐增加，管理逐渐地混乱无效，而开支却大幅度增加。因此大政府并不代表有效管理。

那么孟德斯鸠们所羡慕的小政府的诀窍是什么呢？就是基层自治。按照国家统一的法令，结合地方或者社团的具体情况，自己管理自己是最经济也最有效的管理模式。美国的民主就起源于地方自治，联合的自治政体就是美国联邦。

既然中国古代和西方现代，都可以建立在地方自治的有效管理之下，为什么还需要一个管到个人和细节的大政府呢？不得不说，这是布尔什维克继承封建农奴制所创造的社会主义模式，是把人民当作农奴管理的封建模式，是方便建立少数人统治大多数人的专制奴役的模式。

而中国人两千多年来自由惯了，不适合当农奴，对这种管到个人的模式不愿意接受。于是就造成了严重的官民对立，地方土皇帝们不仅要管到人们烧煤取暖，还要管到生几个小孩。为了完成大领导设定的指标，不惜砸烂农民的饭锅炼钢，不惜制造污染完成GDP。最终目标是为了维持专制的绝对权威。

为什么古代中国的地方自治管理得很好，外族入主中原也不得不接受中国的模式。为什么美国人的地方自治管理得很好？是中国人低人一等弱智吗？马匹文人们帮助共产党制造的这些谣言，的确麻痹了中国人民的智商。一众愚民真的以为自己是低等种族，不配享受和人家一样的民主了，真的以为有低人一等的什么亚洲价值观了。这些谣言有利于中国共产党的专制统治。

中国古代的制度进化停滞不前，是因为专制政治管理市场经济的模式，还能维持，也因为没有智慧者发明现代民主模式。但在世界已经进化到民主强国的时代，中国的仁人志士们也曾经很快地追赶世界潮流。但共产党引进了苏俄式的封建制，打断了中国制度进化的步伐。使中国倒退回了三千年前周朝的封建社会，并且青出于蓝。

所谓邓小平的改革开放，也只是半吊子的进化到了半市场经济，加上专制政治，而且还带有苏俄式的计划经济的尾巴。还不如古代王朝时代的全市场经济加上半专制政治。这就是中国大众喜欢看古装剧，羡慕古人的一个心理倾向吧。

所以中国的民主化不是回复古代的制度，也不是满足于中国共产党的半吊子改革修修补补。而是要在回复传统的地方自治的前提下，引进西方的民主制度，保障真正的自由市场经济。也就是要接过上个世纪初建立民主共和的火炬，结束中共专制，再造共和。

(本评论的英文版本由黄慈萍翻译。魏京生和魏京生基金会感谢她数十年来相关的无偿贡献，特别是使用和发布此译文的许可。)

评论的原始链接：

https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/pinglun/weijingsheng/wjs-04052024095358.html