Are China’s Democratic Parties A Good Example?

Following Friday’s press conference for the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the annual plenary sessions of China’s top legislative and political advisory bodies will kick off in the usual fashion on Saturday. That means China’s eight non-communist parties, known in Mandarin as the “democratic parties,” will no doubt become the focus of public attention once again.

China’s democratic parties have been described as empty shells by Western media outlets in their coverage of the Two Sessions over the past decades. The assumption stems from the fact that democratic parties are not vested with substantial power by the Chinese Constitution, despite their constitutionally endowed position. However, in reality, democratic parties and their political functions are much more dynamic than Western media coverage conveys.

To figure out whether democratic parties are merely insignificant decoration in China’s political system, we should examine ...

https://thediplomat.com/2018/03/what-do-chinas-democratic-parties-actually-do/

No they're a terrible example. Membership is 700 000 sound big but compared to 1.3 billion people it's about 5% of the population, that's if you manage to get in, since membership comes with reference/recommendation only. Once you're in all you do is surveys, research and recommendations, subject to approval from the Communist party...in other words the purpose of these parties are to make the Communist party look good. empty shell right there.