The life and time of China epitomises fear of the human mind and China knows wonderfully well how to deal with it.

The visit to Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City in Beijing gives a fair idea of the depth of Chinese minds.

One would like to believe that the people who built the Great Wall of China could build anything. It's the world's biggest military structure and it was the defence against the nomadic tribes who came from up north. The Forbidden City was the palace of the Ming dynasty. It has symbols of wisdom, reliability, humanity, sense of duty and ceremonial propriety. For instance it has a gate named supreme harmony, and palaces named earthy tranquility and heavenly purity.

Today's China is challenging the commonly-accepted concept of democracy because its authoritarian regime has achieved much more in actual terms than any democracy can dream of. The Chinese government claims that more than 300 million people have been brought above the poverty line in less than three decades.

The Chinese have developed at a frenzied pace not because they are a fascist society and lack democracy, but because they think economic prosperity is the best way of ensuring national security, a theory that formed under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping two decades ago.

One look at China and it is evident how many countries in the world -- including India -- are lagging behind.

Here is a lesson for those who champion the cause of democracy. For better security of the country build, build, build. Make roads, make bridges, multiply production and multiply exports. The Chinese dreamt it, toiled for it and in record time they have done it.

All their new creations, be it the skyscrapers or the rails or the airports or the super factories have the touch of permanency, its planning is based on long term projections and the government has shown that whatever it does, it tries to keep it people friendly. Critics may call this an illusion or delusion, but the urban Chinese call it democracy.