WHY SUCH AN INSTITUTE

China is the largest dictatorial state in the world. Home of over 1.4 billion people, it contains almost 20 percentage of the world’s population and half of those living under unfree conditions. Building up political democracy and free economic system in this ancient country is not only crucial to the dignity and well-being of 1.4 billion individuals; but because of its regional and global influence, the liberalization and democratization of China is also crucial to the peace and order of Asia as well as the world at large. It is observed that democratization is most likely to occur in a country at the middle level of economic development. The good news is that China has already reached the middle level of economic development. However, a democratic transition does not occur automatically and succeed by itself. Effective actions must be taken to initiate the transition. Preparations must be made to manage the transition. So, the Institute for China’s Democratic Transition is created. It is a non-governmental, non-partisan, and non-profit organization which dedicates itself, by carrying out academic research and providing democratic education materials, to prepare for and facilitate the transformation of China into a democracy with a free market economy. It proposes that at the time of transition political dialogue and roundtable talks be adopted to address critical and tough issues so as to minimize the uncertainties of transformation. Incorporated in September 2016, the Institute for China’s Democratic Transition is based in the State of New Jersey, United States.

Executive Team

Hu Ping
Honorary President,Board Member

Wang Tiancheng
President, Board Member

Rui Zhaohuai
Board Member

Yang Zili
Chief Operation Officer

Note: some members are not listed here for the sake of their safety.

Ping Hu

Hu Ping is a senior Chinese philosopher and political dissent in exile in America. He got his Master’s degree in philosophy from Peking University. He was a visiting scholar at Harvard University. He was the Chairman of the League of Democracy and Solidarity in China, and Editor in Chief of Beijing Spring. He is a member of the Board of Human Rights in China and HonoraryEditor in Chief of Beijing Spring. He is the author of five books and hundreds of articles. He is most famous for his influential treatise On the Freedom of Speech, widely recognized as a classic in the field of liberalism in contemporary China.
Wang Tiancheng

Wang Tianchengis a dissident scholar and prodemocracy activist from China. He obtained his law degrees from Peking University and the University of Pennsylvania. He was a law lecturer at Peking University and then spentfive years in prison because of his prodemocracy activities in China. With the assistance of Scholar Rescue Fund and Scholars at Risk Network, he came to the United States and became a visiting scholar at Columbia, Northwestern and New York Universities. He was the Provost of Tiananmen University of Democracy and CEO of the National Committee of Democratic Party of China. He has written extensively on constitutionalism, political theory, democratic transition, and institutional design. He is most famous for his paper On Republic and seminal book The Grand Transition: a Framework for the Study of Strategies to Democratize China.
Rui Zhaohuai

Rui Zhaohuai is a long-time prodemocracy activist. He graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology.In early 1990s, he was jailed for three years because of his prodemocracy activities. He is the founder and president of Grace International Exchange Foundation, an organization created in 2010 to help prodemocracy and human rights activists. He came to the United States in 2014 and currently lives in Virginia.
Yang Zili

Yang Zili received his master of science degree from Peking University. He was the founder of the website “The Spiritual Home of Yangzi”. He was jailed for eight years because of his involvement in founding an organization consisting of prodemocracy college graduates and students. He was a fellow of the Transition Institute (传知行), a NGO now disbanded by the Communist government. He worked for the Institute for China’s Democratic Transition as the coordinator of its working team in mainland before he came to the United States and became NED Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow in 2018. He is a cotranslator of the book Roundtable Talks and The Breakdown of Communism (edited by Jon Elster).
张杰

Zhang Jie received his PHD degree from Law Institute of Wuhan University.He is now living in New York, USA. His youtube channel is popular.

Join Our Research

We encourage our research fellows to look into issues of political and economic transitions in China from cross-national and comparative perspectives. Welcome you to contact us and work together with us.

Be Our Volunteers

Many of our tasks need the hands of volunteers who care about the future of China. Particularly, we need your hands in carrying out such activities as translating (from English to Chinese or Chinese to English), audio data processing, proofreading, conference reception, photography, video making, use of new media, fundraising.

Contact Us

Email: chinatransition2017@gmail.com
Phone:+1 856 248 0718
Address: PO Box 615, 26 S White Horse Pike, Somerdale, NJ08083-9998

IT’S TIME TO CHANGE CHINA

WHAT WE DO

The Institute for China's Democratic Transition is a non-profit think tank and educational organization working to prepare for and facilitate the transformation of China into a democracy with free market economy.

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THE STUDY OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC TRANSITION

We do research in two fields: democratic transition and economic transition. With respect to political transition, we focus on experiences and lessons of democratic transitions in various countries, how to manage the process of a democratic transition so as to minimize uncertainties and enhance the likelihood of success

We do research in two fields: democratic transition and economic transition. With respect to political transition, we focus on experiences and lessons of democratic transitions in various countries, how to manage the process of a democratic transition so as to minimize uncertainties and enhance the likelihood of success , and the choices of constitutional frameworks which will help to consolidate democracy and make it stable and durable. With respect to economic transition, we mainly explore political conditions required by economic reform, structural reforms required for the building of a free market economy, and key structural reforms such as land, finance, and capital market. This research, which is in nature prospective, is not merely about the future. So long as people are unsure of what the future may hold, they are more likely to fear the uncertainty of the future rather than fight for it courageously and enthusiastically. We encourage our research fellows to look into these and related issues confronting China from cross-national and comparative perspectives

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THE DEMOCRATIC COLLEGE

The Democratic College affiliated with our institute provides distant learning opportunities at no cost. The courses on offer are prohibited in the universities of China for political reasons. There are courses on issues of democratic transition and economic transition. Anyone, regardless of his or her age and professional background

The Democratic College affiliated with our institute provides distant learning opportunities at no cost. The courses on offer are prohibited in the universities of China for political reasons. There are courses on issues of democratic transition and economic transition. Anyone, regardless of his or her age and professional background, and whether he or she is located inside or outside of mainland China, can register as a student either with their real names or pseudonyms. A student who finishes three courses successfully, upon his or her request, will be granted a certificate of advanced study of transitology.

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TRANSLATIONS OF WESTERN ACADEMIC WORKS ON DEMOCRATIC TRANSITION AND ECONOMIC REFORM

There are over 120 electoral democracies in the world today, which constitute more than 60 percentage of independent nations. While many countries have succeeded in building and maintaining

There are over 120 electoral democracies in the world today, which constitute more than 60 percentage of independent nations. While many countries have succeeded in building and maintaining a democracy, many others have experienced democratic breakdown or are struggling with maintaining their democracy. As a result, there is a large body of literature on democratic transition, democratic construction, and democratic success and failure. However, only a few of those works have been translated into Chinese and published in mainland China, usually in an abridged, censored, form. Many great works are either left unnoticed by Chinese scholars or can only be accessed by a few people who have sufficient English. The scarcity of academic resources and insufficiency of knowledge about democratic transitions around the world profoundly impact the quality of discussions among Chinese scholars and activists about how to democratize China. We will address this gap by translating important Western academic works into Chinese and publishing them on our website. Considering that China must transition to free market economy as well, we also translate Western academic works that discuss economic reforms in comparative perspectives.

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DIALOGUE

The achievement of democracy requires not only struggle but also cooperation. Democracy can only be established by using methods of democracy. Dialogues and negotiation have been common in the third wave of democratization around the world over the past four decades; roundtable, instead of guillotine

The achievement of democracy requires not only struggle but also cooperation. Democracy can only be established by using methods of democracy. Dialogues and negotiation have been common in the third wave of democratization around the world over the past four decades; roundtable, instead of guillotine, is the totem of our time. By dialogues, negotiations and agreements, uncertainties of the transitional period can be minimized; fear, anger and hatred can be mitigated; and a new era in which people join hands to work for a free, democratic and peaceful future, will hopefully be started. It is true that China has not yet reached the point when major political forces are ready to sit down together at a roundtable. Nevertheless, there is at least one thing we can do in the run up to such dialogues: study how other countries used roundtable talks to start and manage their democratic transitions, and promote discussions among academics and various political groups in China.

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PRINCETON CHINA SALON

This is a series of small conferences held in the United States, specifically Princeton, New Jersey. Most of the participants are Chinese scholars, students, and democratic activists. The purpose of the salon is to promote thinking and understanding of various aspects of China among scholars, artists,

This is a series of small conferences held in the United States, specifically Princeton, New Jersey. Most of the participants are Chinese scholars, students, and democratic activists. The purpose of the salon is to promote thinking and understanding of various aspects of China among scholars, artists, politicians, and businessmen, from China, and Americans interested in and knowledgeable about Chinese affairs. The salon covers a wide variety of subjects ranging from politics, economics and law to culture. The salon emphasizes truthfulness, open-mindedness, and innovative and creative thinking.

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MINI READING ROOM

Mini Reading Room is a free and user-friendly e-journal published at flexible intervals. We select excellent commentaries, articles, translations, focusing on political and economic transitions, and send them to our readers in PDF files. We will send you the journal to enrich your reading repository

Mini Reading Room is a free and user-friendly e-journal published at flexible intervals. We select excellent commentaries, articles, translations, focusing on political and economic transitions, and send them to our readers in PDF files. We will send you the journal to enrich your reading repository as long as you provide your email address. Our email address: chinatransition2017@gmail.com.

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WHAT WE HAVE DONE

Please visit Chinese pages to see what we have done.

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PO Box 615, 26 S White Horse Pike Somerdale,NJ08083-9998 United States
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