"China is not ready for democracy" is an old idea, even though it was promoted in the early 20th century when the west, particularly the US, was the model for modernism. But China is big, and diverse, as much or more so than the US. I doubt that we could get 20 contiguous states in the US to form a democratic union right now. Chinese history has been of contentious and individualistic states and regions, and the old assumption that a single leader is the only way to unify the population still applies, I think. And, as has been discussed, Chinese ideas now about democracy are often ill-formed. In particular, the contentious nature of democracy in the US looks like chaos. On a more practical level, there is no civil society to speak of - no organized way to contend for power or for ideas outside of CCP. Taiwan and South Korea and Japan democratized under different conditions. I think the general Chinese idea is right - you can't get there (to democracy) from where we are right now. Maybe in a few generations.