What is the difference between China's traditional thought, people-oriented thought and western democratic thought?

First of all, from the viewpoint of the origin of monarch and people, most people-oriented thinkers in China believe that the relationship between monarch and people is predestined, and only a few people think that kings should be freely elected by the people or produced from the people in other ways. The vast majority of Democrats in the west believe that rulers are produced by the people and should be produced by the people through contracts.

Secondly, traditional people-oriented thinkers in China generally believe that monarchs are designed for the people to "comfort" and "nurture". But God's duty to the king is to care for and support the people. Therefore, the king is first responsible for the sky, not the people. On the other hand, western democrats advocate "owned by the people, governed by the people and enjoyed by the people", and think that rulers should be responsible to the people first.

Thirdly, China's people-oriented thinkers emphasized that people are the basic elements of a country, mainly from the perspective of political rule. In other words, without the people, rulers can not only rule, but also can not guarantee their own food, clothing, housing and personal safety. When western democratic thinkers say that people are the constituent elements of a country, their main focus is the natural composition of a country, that is, a country must have three basic elements: land, population and sovereignty.

Finally, the fundamental difference between people-oriented doctrine and democracy is that the former presupposes that sovereignty lies with the monarch, while the latter presupposes that sovereignty lies with the people. People-oriented theorists presuppose that the people are the object of the king's rule when they regard the people as the foundation of the country, and there is no king's rule without the people. The people are the foundation of the whole political system, and the king is the sovereign of this political system. Western democratic thinkers not only emphasize that the people are the basis of national politics, but also emphasize that the sovereignty of political rule lies with the people rather than the king.

People-oriented thought and democratic thought are not only fundamentally different, but also fundamentally opposite. Traditional people-oriented thinkers in China often emphasize both "people" and "monarch". Therefore, in terms of its ideological essence, China's traditional people-oriented is also a monarchist.