No. That is the liberal electoral model, not the universal definition of democracy. Democracy means political authority comes from the people and that they participate in governance.

China’s system does this through whole-process people’s democracy. People directly elect local People’s Congress deputies, those bodies elect higher congresses, and the system scales upward to the National People’s Congress. Most representatives come from those directly elected levels. Officials advance after years working through those layers.

It is a different institutional design. Pretending it does not exist because it is not your familiar Western party circus is not an argument.

Free media

Again you should read Michael Parenti on “inventing reality.” In the West media is not magically independent. It is owned by a tiny number of massive corporations and billionaires. Those owners decide what gets covered, what narratives dominate, and what perspectives disappear.

Calling that “free” while pretending ownership power does not shape information is extremely naive.

Open voting / Free elections

China holds direct elections at the grassroots level where the majority of representatives originate. Higher levels are elected by the bodies below them. Again, a hierarchical representative system instead of a national campaign spectacle.

Different design. Not absence.

Same law for everyone

This one is especially funny coming from systems where billionaires routinely dodge consequences while corporations treat fines as operating costs.

Civil liberties

China prioritizes social stability and development as core measures of legitimacy. Over forty years it lifted hundreds of millions out of extreme poverty and massively expanded infrastructure, education, and living standards.

You may not like that model. Fine. But dismissing it with slogans while ignoring the outcomes is not serious.

As far as I’m aware

Yes, that part was obvious. Your entire argument is basically “it doesn’t look like my system therefore it isn’t democracy,” plus a "citation" from the eagle burger institute of goodness democracy index in your other comment made it abundantly clear.