The following excerpt is from an alternate history novel. Can you critique the system of government described in the excerpt? What are the benefits? What problems might arise from this system? What could be improved? On a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being an authoritarian dictatorship and 10 being a direct democracy, how democratic is this system? It should be noted the current year is 1896. In this timeline, Prince Fredrick is exiled to the American colonies after pissing off his father. Through a serious of events, he becomes King of Britain and forms a personal union between the mainland and British North America.

"The country’s official name is: EMPIRE OF THE GREAT FENG (DA FENG), commonly called FENG CHINA or occasionally SOUTH CHINA.
The people are known as: FENG CHINESE or occasionally South Chinese.
Capital and largest city: Hanjing (aka Canton, formerly Guangzhou) (1.0 million)
Flag: A purple-gold-purple horizontal tricolour defaced by a golden phoenix on a purple disc circled in gold.
Population: 290,000,000 (estimate)
Land area: ca. 450,000 lcf.
Economic ranking: Currently ranked 5th, although its recent meteoric rise coupled with inconsistent information about development beyond the coastline has led some to criticise this as an underestimation.
Form of government: Theoretically an absolute monarchy with the Emperor as sole ruler of All-Under-Heaven. In practice much influence is exerted by members of the Imperial Council. Feng China is somewhat less centralised than previous Chinese states, more through accident of history than deliberate policy; broadly speaking, the more distant a province is from Hanjing, the more power its Governor has. The Xuanming Emperor abolished the additional layer of government of the Viceroyalties in 1875.
Foreign relations: After rising up against Qing rule with European help, Feng Chinese policy for the following eight decades has essentially been an attempt to extricate the country from being too dependent on or influenced by Europeans, while still at the same time taking advantage of the wealth of trade that has resulted (providing its fairness and equality can be maintained by Chinese strength). The results have not been entirely successful from a Confucian point of view, but Feng China is very much its own animal: while individual Europeans have risen to positions of power in the military and civil government, no organised European power has achieved influence over China (and indeed the Feng have pushed back European colonialism in cases such as Hainan).
Military: The Feng army and later the navy have modernised in a series of phases over the nineteenth century. While remaining somewhat behind the best European armies in terms of equipment and training, the Feng have achieved a level of military organisation and discipline not seen in China for many years (and certainly far superior to the corrupt Beiqing armies). This has partly been achieved by a shift in the 1880s towards the recruitment of an additional elite volunteer army for frontline duty and commando operations, the Leishen Army, to supplement the standard conscript-based Imperial Army.
Current head of state: The Xuanming Emperor (Feng Dynasty) (since 1867)
Current head of government: As part of the Feng tendency to wish to split powers to prevent any one individual to become too powerful, the office of Chancellor is collectively held by the members of the Imperial Council."