Democratizing Oriental Despotism : China From 4 May 1919 to 4 June 1989 and Taiwan From 28 February 1947 to 28 June 1990

China and Taiwan have similar political cultures. However, the Chinese intellectual and political elite have failed to democratize the Middle Kingdom since the 4 May 1919 Movement; whilst their Taiwanese counterpart succeeded in making the island state fairly democratic in just over four decades since the 28 February 1947 Uprising. After an examination of the approaches they applied, the author finds that the former have pursued a culturalist route by trying to change the psycho-cultural make-up of the Chinese people. Conversely, Taiwan followed an institutional road in which they tried to win elections and to set up political organizations, such as parties. Both China and Taiwan have fairly similar political cultures. However, the Chinese intellectual and political elite have, by and large, failed to democratize the Middle Kingdom since 1919 when they started the 4 May Movement to bring 'Mr D' (democracy) and 'Mr S' (science) to the land of the Yellow Emperor. This is in sharp contrast to their counterpart in Taiwan which has been relatively successful in bringing the island state into a primary stage of democracy in just over four decades since 1947, when the infamous 28 February uprising erupted. From a careful examination of methods of democratization applied by both elites, the author finds that the former, as shown in their words and deeds in the 4 June Tiananmen tragedy, tried primarily to change the psycho-cultural make-up of the Chinese people; whilst the latter pushed to win elections and to form political organizations, particularly parties, to fight the Kuomintang authoritarian rule. Thus, in the bloody 4 June Tiananmen tragedy, China's prodemocracy students and intellectuals did not bring about any institutional change to the communist one-party dictatorship. On the other side of the Taiwan Straits, Taiwanese oppositionists emerged in the 28 June 1990 National Affairs Conference and subsequent elections to become an institutional threat, indeed a viable democratic alternative, to the Kuomintang authoritarian rule China and Taiwan have similar political cultures. However, Chinese intellectual and political elite have failed to democratize the Middle Kingdom since the 4 May 1919 Movement: whilst their Taiwanese counterpart succeeded in making the island state fairly democratic in just over four decades since the 28 February 1947 Uprising. After an examination of the approaches they applied, the author finds that the former have pursued a culturalist road by trying to change the psycho-cultural make-up of the Chinese people: whilst the latter followed an institutionalist one in which they tried to win elections and to set up political organizations, such as parties.