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Whenever any topic is discussed about China, either with friends or over the internet, it always boils down to the government type in China. In fact, it always comes down to an absolutely authoritarian government or a dictatorship rule in China.
I have not understood how elections are conducted in the country.
Is China a Republic? If so how could it be authoritarian, or a dictatorship?
Elections in China (PRC) are hierarchical. Local districts can elect representatives, however a complex system of committees and primary elections ensures that only Communist-party backed candidates can appear in the election.
Higher levels of government are chosen by local government groups, further ensuring that the Communist Party retains control. Thus the elections are not free and fair. China (PRC) is not a democracy.
It is authoritarian because the election processes effectively prevent a second political group from having power. Moreover the party acts to prevent critics. It controls the press and limits access to the internet, for example. While the leader can change, the party cannot.
China is a republic because leadership isn't passed from parent to child, as in a monarchy. It is not a democracy because free elections are not held to choose the leaders.
Hannah Arendt in her book The Origins of Totalitarianism writes about how both Communist and non-communist Authoritarian regimes operate, and one of the Key features is that the political party in charge elevates itself above the State and as a result create institutions with deliberately murky and overlapping powers, the party then presides to undermine its own institutions. This means that power in concentrated in people and not the offices that people hold. Additionally the Party seeks to create a monopoly on truth in the society. These states are republics in the sense that they claim to be supported and in the interest of the people.
So how does this dynamic play out practically in China? In regards to the monopoly on truth it means that the media in china is controlled by the CCP(Chinese Communist Party) with the only news papers and TV broadcasting stations owned by high level members of the CCP being allowed to operate. But it does farther acording to freedomhouse "Internet censorship and surveillance reached new extremes during the year, driven in part by the CCP’s determination to suppress discussion of the 30th anniversary of the June 1989 military crackdown on prodemocracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Restrictions were placed on apolitical social media platforms, and more ordinary users faced account closures and criminal prosecutions for political, social, religious, and humorous speech." Additionally pressure to toe the party line can come from employers who threat to fire individuals who speak out. Or the CCP might simply choose to "disappear" deserters in order to avoid public attention.
The CCP additionally gates-keeps political and economic power through control of membership. While the CCP says anyone can run for office in reality only members of the CCP chosen for their loyalty are allowed to run for office unopposed similarly Judges are handpicked by the CCP and are beholden and loyal to the party and not the state. Finally because the government(and thus the party) plays such a large role in the Chinese economy it can advantage its own privileging its own and making longstanding party affiliation and economic assets.
In this way the China goes through the motions of elections, but the outcomes are preordained by the party, organizing an opposition is difficult and dangerous for all involved and running a political campaign is near impossible and likely illegal.
Freedom house Freedom in the world report 2020 https://freedomhouse.org/country/china/freedom-world/2020
Amnesty International Report of China https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/asia-and-the-pacific/china/report-china/
hannah arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Joe Studwell, How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region
Perhaps contrary to common belief, there are (actually lots) of competitive & relatively free elections held in China, especially in the 2007-2012 reform era. However, those were limited to the local level, and the elected officials had little influence at higher levels.
Competitive and relatively free elections are held at the village level. Under Chinese law (Articles 30 and 111 of the PRC constitution), villages do not constitute administrative units (i.e., there is no "village-level government"), and are instead "organs of local autonomy".
Every village has a Villager's Committee, and members serve terms of 5 years. Those elections are relatively free, in that every villager over the age of 18 can run, and there's no pre-approved list of candidates. Committee members have vast powers over the administration of the village, and has some oversight over the policies of the local township government. However, there are lots of problems with this system: corruption & nepotism is an apparent one, and elected officials are often subject to pressure from the local township and/or county government.
The elections for local People's Congresses, i.e., legislature, remain under tight control. The elections are competitive, but all the candidates are pre-approved by local government and party organs. Very occasionally, non-pre-approved candidates somehow make it into the list of candidates, but those candidates are often pressured, sometimes violently.
