politics

I am a Chinese person.

The traditional Western definition of a democracy is "a form of government where power is vested in the people and expressed through elections". By this definition, China is highly undemocratic because there aren't genuine competitive elections on any level.

The word "democracy" (民主) as used in Mainland China means "a system of government where leaders respond to the needs and demands of the people". This is slightly different in that a government doesn't need to be elected to be democratic, it just needs to be responsive to popular demand. China's government, especially at local levels, is very responsive to local demands, even more so than in the USA (have experienced both personally). So by this slightly different definition, China is democratic.

In Western political philosophy, China's definition is actually "benevolent government", not "democracy". You can argue that being democratic would actually just be meaningless under the Western definitions if the government isn't benevolent, and I would agree wholeheartedly. But unfortunately English sticks to the Western definitions which is why the statement "China is democratic" will raise eyebrows when said to a crowd of English speakers.