The People's Republic of China is one of the few socialist governments in the world that openly defends communism. This government is governed under the supervision of the Communist Party of China and based on the Constitution of China, which was approved in 1982.
The Chinese government has been criticized for its restrictions in many social fields, including media freedom, Internet access, freedom of assembly, reproductive rights, freedom to establish social organizations, and freedom of religion.
China's leaders describe their country's political, ideological and economic system with the terms "people's democratic tyranny", "socialism with Chinese characteristics" and "socialist market economy", respectively.
China's political system is chosen through representative democracy and elections, but the electoral system of this country is very different from the system in Western countries. The Chinese electoral system is hierarchical. The members of the local people's congresses are elected by the direct vote of all the people, but the members of the higher-ranking congresses are elected only by the votes of their lower-ranking congress members.