China’s modern history is the history of cooperation and confrontation between the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Chinese Communist Party. It can be understood as a series of nation-strengthening attempts led by a dictatorship, first directed by the Nationalist Party (1928–1949) and then by the Communist Party (1949–), with the “dream” of becoming a world power coming true today. As the Sino-Liberalism theory (Fairbank 1992) elucidated, the aforementioned political narratives aimed at establishing a powerful government have many affinities to the narratives that refute the liberal traditions in Chinese political thought. However, as the Cold War order collapsed, opinions emerged arguing that China should move on the path towards democratization on the basis of its intellectual tradition of liberalism (Mitter 2004). In fact, social activists in China are still demonstrating for liberty and democracy (Mizuha 2012). Today, efforts for liberty are continuing in spite of the difficult political situation (Ishii 2015; Ishii and Ogata 2015). In order to foresee China’s future political trends, focusing merely on the superstructure that is now intensifying dictatorship is not enough. Furthermore, the historical narratives of “democracy” will provide hints to understand Japan and Asia’s contemporary problems.