@viva_zhao @GeraltofRivia @Char @rott et al:
Friend, its getting lot off topic I suppose now. This will take long time to explain in detail needed...but let me give you guys few pointers from my perspective:
India has "Federal Republic" and (controlled + defined) "democracy" operating within that framework. However like I mentioned before, its not a copy paste kind of deal (from say western). It is defined by Indian constitution which is very unique document (and there is good, bad and grey in my opinion here). This means a local optimized version of republic-democracy has taken shape in India (over time, especially after learning what is good and what is bad in relation to implementation on Indian society which is itself very diverse like you mention).
Just like China has its version of "People's republic" and "communism" operating within that one and that would take a long discussion to discuss of how its peculiar to only China's case (if one is to argue what it was at conception compared to downstream today).
I mean is communism, marxism etc originally a Chinese created thought? Similarly its the case for Indian republic + democracy, it adapts to earlier structures we had over time.
For China case, it make sense (central authority + consolidation especially after long period of weakness and tumult) for reasons I mentioned before...but in short and in my opinion....a single core language I feel is the original root case that "Han" identity grew around over centuries and became very solidly entrenched....especially for political purpose (given no matter how the broader culture/influences may have evolved with time and whatever invaders may have taken over the highest political level, there was simply too much significant inertia from "Han" identity that always counterbalanced these things). Basically all 3 major river systems (yellow, yangtse, pearl) of China were unified into this "core hearth"....so a resilience was gained historically.
Contrast with ROC (Taiwan) from post 1949 period too. You will notice for good long time they also had one party rule and central-authoritarianism...and likely if they won civil war, structurally China at large would still have same kind of central control system.
Indian case has some similarities in larger cultural realm....but it did not have this relative level of language identity/uniformity in the geographic space it occupies today. Simply put we have lot more river systems in the geography (Big ones in north like Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra...but also different ones in the central area and south) and thus lot more intrinsic variance to account for. Thus one single language system (for everything else to take shape above it) never came about like it did in China. It is why Indian empires could exert large size and reach...but when they retreat like tide, there was no long term permanence to consolidate (politically) again.
This is also why the "Indian elites" were also able to handle the competing forces....given the cultural gestation of our system to always accomodate for these variances, yet still unite on larger themes of culture/contact/influences/civilisation etc.
This also brings in what is a country vs nation. To me they are distinct (but of course related), a country is just the current political set up occupying to the boundaries it reaches with other countries. The PRC is a country. Republic of India is a country. etc etc
But to me when we talk in long historical terms and contexts, the more apt term is "nation"....because different political entities that take the mold of "country"...that is: empires, kingdoms etc come and go....but what lasts is the "nation"....and above that is "civilisation" (but that starts to get to be too broad generally). To me Chinese (Han) and Indian nations are quite different...there is no real equivalent like "Han" bounded by language system (and augmented with other markers.... to the extent found for example in Indian case. This also enters a very long conversation on the breaking up of Indian "nation" by foreign invasions. Because simply put your last two foreign dynasties (Mongol and Manchu...and they are seperated in time by long stretch of local Ming) were integrated into Chinese culture by and large (there was no ingredients sown for ground based cultural clash among the people, given you are simply Han always). It simply does not quite compare to Islamic dynasties in India, the very short tenure our local Marathas had in between (to contrast with Ming) and then British colonial period. The effects on nation for that is quite different. This is why federal republic+democracy is our best bet here....too centralised system will not work simply.
As to your query as to undue western influence that comes about by this....well it is akin to how much Russian/Soviet influence also came about by PRC adopting marxist-communism under Mao....and great friendship during the first period etc....and compare that to situation in the middle of PRC modern history and what the current situation of PRC is etc.
Simpy put, over time the sino-soviet split happened (because of big differences arising) and then later Deng reformed and opened up China in different direction to Mao's original conception.
Similar kind of thing happened when we went to war with Pakistan in 1971 and Americans sent a carrier fleet to try threaten and dissuade us (even though we are democracy and they are non-democratic dictatorship at that time... and we had valid reasons to conduct that war given their brutal crackdown on one wing of their country)...and maybe even take action against us, if it were not for Soviet counter-pressure on them. It was low point and very telling lesson for us on what West in the end cares about and what its influences ultimately seek to do. Though of course in 1991 we opened up and started to reform economically....in similar "cat can be white or black as long as it catches mice" that China did decade before...but its pragmatic decision after extreme economic insulation clearly not working.
It is really too bad that Sino-Indian relations got off on bad start that lingers because of the border areas with Tibet. But its time to keep making improvements and cooperation each year as best we both can...given the worst episodes are shrinking in rear view mirror each day on highway and we instead choose to focus on better opportunity ahead.
So trust me, we know exactly what deep hypocrisy of the west can be, and it wont be forgotten. We chart our own way and look to our internal references and needs first rather than blindly copy stuff....we are too big...and now with this system in place for cpl long generations, we see what strengths and weaknesses (as it applies to us) there are and enhance the former and address the latter.
It is really the only way rather than worry too much about setting up everything perfectly at start....because "perfection" is both only judged in hindsight and depends on the individual definition too...and what context he is aware of to judge it.