Whether a country is a democracy or not depends on whether its people are really the masters of the country. If the people are awakened only for voting but enter a dormant period soon after, if they are given a song and dance during campaigning but have no say after the election, or if they are favored during canvassing but are left out in the cold after the election, such a democracy is not a true democracy.

TBD: determine source of this alternate translation, I believe it is from a press release about the 2021 conference where Xi Jinping gave this speech

from https://redsails.org/xi-on-democracy/