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Is China a Democracy or a Dictatorship?

By experts and staff

Published
  • Ian Johnson
    Stephen A. Schwarzman Senior Fellow for China Studies

China’s political system is complicated, and there’s a lot of contradictory information out there. Is China a communist country? Is it democratic, as its own government insists? And what does “freedom” mean to Chinese citizens? Ian Johnson, CFR’s senior fellow for China studies, answers these questions and more.