For a long time, China has not only been criticized as undemocratic, but also anti-democracy. As China does not have Western-style elections, some Chinese find it hard to refute the West's finger-pointing. Although China has made prominent social progress in recent years, it has long been the target of criticism over the democratic issue.

To convince Western public opinion is rather difficult but Chinese people should not be manipulated by the West. It is important to maintain independent thinking on democracy.

Democracy is a good thing, but is this also true when latest streets protests in Egypt claimed dozens of lives? We need democracy, but a truly good democracy that will avoid autocracy, promote scientific decision-making, combat corruption, and more importantly, not give way to social unrest.

This requires the basic construction of a Chinese democratic culture that should match the building of democratic institutions. This should include a social consensus on democratic politics, strong legal authority and respect for the majority opinion.

Democracy may bring different results to different countries. The Egypt revolution may aim at a high standard of democracy, but a true democratic culture needs to be reached through constant economic and cultural development.

China's democratic construction has not stood still. Compared with the situation five years ago, China has more channels to express opinions and there are more restraints on administrative powers. The country's accountability system is working, many officials have fallen from grace after their scandals were exposed on the Internet. These things could not even be imagined five years ago.

There are more public hearings; A chemical project in Dalian was halted operations August due to public outcry. For example, the transportation proposals for the city of Beijing were set aside under online opposition and some cities are preparing to implement the PM2.5 pollution detection system as many are demanding.

As a matter of fact, China is enjoying its fastest democratic development these years. Besides these elements, progress also includes more people acknowledging that democracy is a natural trend. Chinese society can already tell the difference between democracy and Western democracy and believe democracy should be diversified.

Once such recognitions are consolidated in China, democracy will enjoy a bright future in China and the rise of China can possibly be the practice of a new democratic model.

China cannot copy the West in conducting uncertain "shock therapy." The collapse of the Soviet Union brought much pain, but 20 years have passed and Russia is still excluded by the West.

For China, democracy is an inevitable road to progress. In fact, China is on the way of democracy, but does not explicitly refer to this road as democracy.