Can China Handle Democracy?

Jackie China is reported to have said that the people living in China cannot handle democracy and I found a guy who agreed with him. The guy’s name is Yuan Shikai and was a politician and general in the last dynasty, the Qing. He supposedly said that Chinese people at that time did not have the wisdom to practice democracy. Until coming here I would have thought that the most ignorant statement I ever heard, but now after living here and hearing my colleagues utter that same feeling, I have to wonder.