A childhood friend is among the most apolitical people in town and she spends most of her time singing and dancing with other retirees. Recently she learned from a dancing partner that there was to be a gathering of foreign media people at a certain business street in downtown Beijing and she was curious to know why.

When she learned that they were gathering in the hope of witnessing a Chinese version of the unrest in the Middle East she was disinterested.

"They are making much ado about nothing!" she declared.

This friend and her husband both rely on pensions, which are rather meager, and are not pleased with the disparities in wealth in the country. Nevertheless, my friend said, social unrest solves no problems and that it is ordinary people that suffer the most from any turmoil.

"I'm not supportive of anything like that," she said. And nor are her daughter and son-in-law, both white-collar workers in their early 30s.

It's a pity that some foreign people are so eager for a drama such as that unfolding in the Middle East to take place in China that they fail to notice the mood prevalent among ordinary Chinese people.

Perhaps they are disappointed at the lack of "revolutionary momentum" in China. But the Chinese people know there is no reason for the mass of people to participate in such events at the behest of some anonymous Internet messages and the Western media.

It is true that our country and government are far from perfect. Many government departments and officials are often the targets of my and other people's criticisms. We criticize them, sometimes even bitterly, because we believe constructive criticism will lead to solutions and lead to social progress. Such criticisms are meant to make our country better.

We are also critical of the government because it is responsive to our criticisms, although sometimes the responses may be rather slow. For instance, the affordable housing programs to counteract the red-hot property market, although they might seem a bit late to some of us, are nonetheless a welcome move to crack down on real estate speculation.