Abstract: When discussing whether representative democracy is suitable for China, ZHANG Tai-yan thought that representative democracy is related to the feudal system in the West in middle ages, but after the Wei-jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, no hereditary power existed in China, so it's unsuitable to transplant the representative system from the West, which will form a special power group. Besides, ZHANG pointed out that system construction should be in accordance with the fundamental conditions in China. Under the situation that China was a large country with vast land and millions of people and the development of different regions was imbalanced, those who were possible to be elected as representatives could only be the rich who would not voice for the rights of common people. Therefore, he designed an ideal system, hoping that this system can really embody democracy, overcome the defects of modern capitalist regime, so as to the idea of civil power can be actually rooted in China on the one hand and national unity and political identity can be achieved on the other.

Key words: ZHANG Tai-yan, Pro and Con of Representative Democracy, historical conditions, conditions of China