Journal Assignment - Comments on "han Han on Democracy"

The main assertion of Han Han's article is that China should reform steadily towards a democratic society, but not hurry into a democratic nation by means of a revolution, even it being a non-violent one like the Velvet Revolution.

Han first points out that a Velvet Revolution cannot take place in China. The reason is that Czech's population is only one half of that of Beijing. However, he has not expressly elaborated why population size is relevant to whether a Velvet Revolution can take place in China. However, the general view is that with a smaller population, ideology can be more easily communicated to the public, and, there is a smaller chance of diversification of political perspectives.

The second reason Han puts forward may be better illustrated with a standard format of the argument:

P1: For Velvet Revolution to take place there must be presence of three conditions: i) good character of people, ii) tolerance of the authorities, and iii) leadership of the intellectuals;

P2: These three things are absent in China

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C: There will be no Velvet Revolution in China.

This is clearly a deductive argument and it is valid as the conclusion follows logically from the two premises. However, Han has not explained why the first premise is true, that is, why Velvet Revolution requires the three conditions. It is a mere assertion without explanation. Explanation about this assertion is important because it helps us to understand what the three vague conditions - good character of people, tolerance of the authorities, and leadership of the intellectuals - mean. But for the purpose of discussion, we assume this premise regarding conditions of Velvet Revolution to be true.

As to the first condition about good character of people, Han asserts that Chinese citizens are of poor quality. The reason being that, it is possible that some voters will sell their votes and that some voters may not be able to receive voting ballots for some reasons. This argument is valid, but it is not a good one. This is because, as mentioned above, the condition about "good character of people" is very vague and broad and contains many things. Many behaviors can be regarded as good but they may not be significant or even contrary to the happening of Velvet Revolution. For example, good character may mean absolute obedience to the government's directions. In that case, it is unlikely that a Velvet Revolution will take place.

As to the third condition, Han argues that there is no leadership of intellectuals in China. The reason is that since Chinese citizens in general are of poor quality in the sense that they do not value their civic rights to