Memes

The Chinese political system is considered authoritarian.^[1][2][3][4][5][6]^ There are no freely elected national leaders, political opposition is suppressed, all organized religious activity is controlled by the CCP, dissent is not permitted, and civil rights are curtailed.^[7][8]^ Limited direct elections have occurred only at the local level, not the national level, with all candidate nominations controlled by the CCP.^[9][10][11][12][13][14][excessive citations]^ The nature of the elections is highly constrained by the CCP's monopoly on power, censorship, and party control over elections.^[15][16]^ By law, all elections at all levels must adhere to the leadership of the CCP.^[17]^ All government bodies and state-owned enterprises have internal CCP committees that lead the decision-making in these institutions. China's two special administrative regions (SARs), Hong Kong and Macau, are governed under the "one country, two systems" principle.