'Chinese Peasents Getting Uppity' Part II

Well all that the term "Republic" means is that you don't have a monarch.

Canada is not a Republic even though we met the conditions you lay out. We have a officials which are elected to govern etc. etc. etc. But we are technically a constitutional monarchy because the Queen is still technically head of state even though she has no real power.

The same does for Great Britain, it's called the United Kingdom for a reason. The only time Britain was ever a republic was when Oliver Cromwell deposed the Monarchy. In practice all that a republic really is a term for a country whose head of state isn't a monarchy. That's it. The system you speak of is what is often called a "Republican Democracy", but that's not the only way the term "Republic" is applied.

You could call him with the tag @pedro3131 .

I hate you all....

Okay, a republic is basically characterized as a democratically based system that relies on internal checks and balances to mitigate the passions of the majority. Also rule of law. The prime example is the US with it's three branch (executive, legislative, and judicial) system that closesly mimics the systems Aristolte and Polybius were writing about (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_(Aristotle) and replace constitutional gov't with Polity or republic depending on your translation.

Something else you're getting caught up on is the use of the term democracy. You're applying a liberal interpretation of democracy, that is predicated on individual rights and rule by the people. What China is, is a people's democracy, meaning rule of the common people (or proles). In terms of China, they favor a people's democratic dictatorship, wherein the communist party rules in the interest of the people. While it's not a democracy in the Western liberal sense, if you accept the logic of the dictatorship of the proles as a means of giving franchise to the working class, it still operates within the confines of the original meaning of the Greek word demokratia (which comes from demos (people) and kratein (to rule)

You still have the first part slightly off, because by your definition Canada and the UK would be a Republic because we have a democratically based system that relies on internals checks and balances etc etc etc. But we are not a Republic because our head of state is not a monarchy.

Again the only time the UK called itself a Republic was when Olivier Cromwell deposed monarchy and placed himself as head of state, enough though the internal governing mechanisms had not substantially changed.