Those would be the Five Branches of Government inspired on Dr Sun's reinterpretation of Montesquieu's works.
Of the Five Spears, just two of them are democratically elected: The Legislative and Executive branches. All other three branches are not elective but chosen by merit and professional attributes.
Three courts: the Supreme Judicial, the Supreme Examiner and the Supreme Controller. One for matters of interpretation of the law. One to guarantee the legitimacy of all public employees(specially elected ones, like representatives or the Prime Minister) and that their behavior won't tarnish the institutions behind their positions. One to evaluate all matters regarding public finances.
And between all that, the "Emperor"(as for the traditional meaning of the word for "First Citizen"): a leader chosen by the Supreme Examiner to lead the Empire and protect the institutions. For that the occupant of said position MUST remain out of any scandal and not promote controversies. Failure to protect stability and harmony of the Five Spears may cause the Supreme Examiner to revoke the Emperor's mandate and choose another one among the list of candidates.
Just a summary of a few thoughts I have sometimes. I believe that the values of institutions based on democracy, republicanism and monarchy are not mutually exclusive but complementary to each other: Democratic values give legitimacy for the people occupying government positions. Republican values put the institutions above any personal project and restraint democracy to prevent it from becoming a mob-rule. And the Monarchic values reference the idea that a position of national leadership should not be occupied by the same person who is the head of government.
Some of these ideas I took from ancient Chinese concepts, such as the Mandate of Heaven, created by the Zhou Dynasty to justify the overthrown of the Shang Dynasty. The ancient concept is filled with ancient superstitions and some similarities to the Western concept of "divine rights of kings", but disconsidering the whole mystical part of it, the idea is that the leader must strive for the well-being of it's state otherwise will lose the mandate.
Well... Those are just a few thoughts I have. I welcome feedback.
