Monarchy

Monarchy is perhaps the most enduring form of government. It is also perhaps the one with most variations. I tried to check the Chinese and Russian versions of monarchy. The views are simplifications.

China:

• The Emperor was absolute ruler. However, the post of Emperor was depersonalized. The Emperor was termed "Son of Heaven". Emperors were selected by agnatic succession. Hence, the relationship was not used biologically but rather son was used in the sense of viceroy. Chinese emperor was not the soverign of a single state but also the head of all states of the world.
  
• A meritocratic bureaucracy, was the other pillar of China. However, bureaucracy, if left to itself, would turn into a clique where posts will not be decided on a meritocratic basis but on the basis of heredity and recommendation. the emperor would prevent a clique from arising, as it was in his interests that the country should be run by the best people.
  
• The Chinese had another concept 'Mandate of Heaven'. This was tied with emperor's position as viceroy of Heaven. If the emperor was perceived to be acting unrighteously, his Mandate was supposed to go away. This stabilized the system in several ways. If the emperor favored a clique and bypassed the meritocratic bureaucracy, the bureaucrats who occupied the top judicial, executive, and military posts could legally rise in rebellion and claim the emperor's mandate was gone. In ancient China, character, effort and intelligence all constituted merit. Wannabe bureaucrats were tested rigorously for character. Thus if the emperor's policies hurt the common man, the meritocratic bureaucrats could raise the banner of revolt. Hence, the concept of 'Mandate of heaven' protected the meritocratic bureaucracy from the autocratic emperors and ensured within limits the protection of people from rapacious emperors. The meritocratic bureaucracy, in which character was an inherent constituent of merit ensured that vast powers were used for public good.
  
• The Mandate had another great use. If a person, disposed the present emperor, than the Mandate validated his rule in the eyes of people and bureaucracy. This allowed 'great man' in the mold of Napoleon, a chance to display their great talents while leaving the bureaucratic apparatus unimpaired.

Hence, the Chinese version balanced all players, formalized the system, made it as meritocratic as possible, and ensured that the talents of great man in the mold of Napoleon were used to inject life into the sytem rather than destabilize it. hence, it survived through many empires for 2000 years.

Russia:
Russia was the largest ( in area and population) of the 3 premier monarchies of Europe: Prussia (Germany), Austria, and Russia. It was also the least democratic and least developed. the country's official policy was: Christianity, Tradition, and Autocracy. Tradition means the way of forefathers. Now, Christianity did not develop in Russia. It came at a particular time in history. Hence, for some people at some time, it was not tradition. So mindless insistence on tradition, violated first tenet. It could be argued that Christianity was preached firstly and foremostly by God himself and hence, it was superior to tradition. Carrying this argument, any non-Christian tradition had to be discarded. Russian insistence on home-grown traditions did not gel with Jerusalem born Christianity. Orthodox Christianity no matter how much Russified it became, was born in Constanipole and ultimately based on teachings of a person from Jerusalem.
Autocracy, was another tradition. It was based on agnatic promigeniture. Now, according to Chritianity, this tradition would be valid, if Romanovs (ruling dynasty of Russia) could trace descent from first son of Adam. They didn't. Hence, the tradition of autocracy was un-Christian. Even if they did, they would have been rulers of whole world and not just Russia. They never claimed the same. More importantly, the Romanovs who insisted on "home-grown" traditions usually married German, not Russian brides.
The first king among Romanovs was elected by boyars (nobles). This was accepted history. Given, that all humans were descendants of Adam and Eve, there was no reason to give voting rights only to nobles. Besides, there was no reason why voting should be a one-off event. One could argue a person, should be chosen for life. If people have choosen wrong once, they may repeat it. Buit that does not restrict chosing new kings after death of old kings. Thus the concept of autocracy was also against Christianity.
Hence, the Russian empire was based only on might. Once, its might was exposed as hollow in the 1905 Russo-Japanese war, collapse was inevitable. And Orthodox Christianity also faced the consequences for assisting the monarchy in it's anti-Christianity position. The persecution of church at Soviet hands had some public support .