Will China become a multiparty democracy? The author posits that the more that Chinese elite thinking on China's development and change reconciles the tension between Chinese nationalism and collectivist, family-like ethics on the one hand, and the western democratic ideals based on each self-seeking individual's subjectivity on the other hand, the greater the chance that China's political development will lead to a multiparty democracy. The author projects that within the next twenty years China will march on the path of democratization.
"Rey-ching Lu demonstrates how it is theoretically as well as practically possible that concerns for collective goods and Confucian value of harmony will contribute to the evolution of liberal democracy in China, rather than hinder it. This book represents a higher moral commitment to democratization and a culturally more sympathetic approach to Chinese values than most democracy literature and China study literature in both English language and Chinese language." - Chih-yu Shih, National Chair Professor, National Taiwan University