Double post - Edit 2
Before modification by Variant at 21/01/2011 01:23:29 AM
thousands of years ... sure there have been periods of rebellion etc... but each successive ruling group since something like the 17th century BC has had pretty much absolute rule with little in the way of personal freedoms for the people.
You could say the same thing about the histories of South Korea and Japan, it wasn't until recent modern history that they've become democracies.
While modern China is opening up in certain ways, they are still a long way off from what any Human Rights organization would call a haven.
As I've said, China is changing, it's just happening very slowly. Personally, I don't feel China is ready to become a democracy right now. Even though it's made great economic strides, the vast majority of it's populace is still very poor and uneducated. I personally shudder to think what would happen if China suddenly turned into Jacksonian democracy when the vast majority of it's populace are still peasant farmers, not exactly an ideal situation in terms of global stability.
However as china continues getting richer, as it's middle class continues getting bigger, as it's populace continues getting more educated. It's domestic situation is going to get more complicated and more demanding. It's going to happen eventually, it's just not going to happen right away.