BEIJING — China remains an authoritarian one-party state led by the Chinese Communist Party, with all political opposition banned.
Democratic reform has been debated in China since the 19th century. Yet the economic opening that produced a new middle class has not generated demands for Western-style democracy, according to academic analysis by scholars including Kellee Tsai.
China's economic liberalization was not matched by political opening. The 1989 pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square, which called for greater freedoms, were suppressed under Deng Xiaoping's leadership.
The economic shift under the Communist Party prioritized growth and individual wealth accumulation. This fostered a new business class but also increased precarity for workers, particularly rural migrants moving to cities for construction jobs. Many experienced growing instability as urban industries expanded.
