Editing Democracy in China (section)

===== Whole-process people's democracy =====
{{Main article|Whole-process people's democracy}}
Xi has coined the term whole-process people's democracy ({{zh|s=全过程人民民主|labels=no}}), also called "whole-process democracy" ({{zh|s=全过程民主|labels=no}}, {{zh|s=全过程的民主|labels=no}}) which he said "put the [[people are the masters of their own country]]" and that in it "all major legislative decisions are made only after democratic deliberations and thorough procedures to ensure sound and democratic decision-making". He said that "whole-process democracy" had four pillars:<ref>{{Cite web |last=Chen |first=Stella |date=23 November 2021 |title=Whole-Process Democracy |url=https://chinamediaproject.org/the_ccp_dictionary/whole-process-democracy/ |access-date=2022-08-13 |website=China Media Project |language=en-US |archive-date=13 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813104659/https://chinamediaproject.org/the_ccp_dictionary/whole-process-democracy/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
# process democracy ({{zh|s=过程民主|labels=no}}) and achievement democracy ({{zh|s=成果民主|labels=no}})
# procedural democracy ({{zh|s=程序民主|labels=no}}) and substantive democracy ({{zh|s=实质民主|labels=no}})
# direct democracy ({{zh|s=直接民主|labels=no}}) and indirect democracy ({{zh|s=间接民主|labels=no}})
# people's democracy ({{zh|s=人民民主|labels=no}}) and will of the state ({{zh|s=国家意志|labels=no}})

In 2021, in response to the [[Summit for Democracy]] held by US president [[Joe Biden]], the [[State Council of the People's Republic of China]] released a white paper called ''[[China: Democracy That Works]]'' which praised China's "whole-process democracy", said that "there are many ways to achieve democracy" and disparaged American democracy as "performative."<ref>{{Cite news |title=中国发布民主白皮书， "民主峰会"前夕与美争夺话语权 |url=https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-59532643 |access-date=2022-08-26 |work=[[BBC News]] |language=zh-hans |archive-date=1 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220101065145/https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-59532643 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Under the concept of whole-process people's democracy, whether a country is democratic should not be measured by the electoral process but instead by the results it delivers to the people.<ref name=":Tsang&Cheung">{{Cite book |last1=Tsang |first1=Steve |author-link=Steve Chang |title=The Political Thought of Xi Jinping |last2=Cheung |first2=Olivia |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2024 |isbn=9780197689363}}</ref>{{Rp|page=189}} By using the improvement of living standards and development as the measure of democratic success, this framing favors China, which has undergone major advances in development and living standards during the last four decades.<ref name=":Tsang&Cheung" />{{Rp|page=189}}