According to China's health authorities, two Shanghai men have died from H7N9 bird flu and one woman from Anhui Province and another four from Jiangsu Province have also been confirmed to be infected with the disease. As this year is the 10th anniversary of the SARS epidemic, people's attention and vigilance are concentrated on this lesser-known type of bird flu.

The public health crisis of a decade ago became a turning point in many aspects, such as China's disease control and government information disclosure mechanism. China has learned a lesson from the great losses it suffered from that crisis.

It would have been unbelievable 10 years ago for the government to take the initiative to publish the facts about the epidemic. The government tried to hide the true extent of the SARS outbreak until the situation could not have been worse.

After the outbreak, local governments began reforms on information disclosure and the central government introduced Open Government Information Regulations. Such achievements have been made with great difficulties.

But reforms on governmental information disclosure are far from complete. In the past decade, China suffered from various losses due to a lack of transparency of information and witnessed many crises.

The Internet has played a larger role in promoting information disclosure. The government has acknowledged the public's right to know, but meanwhile, it is still in a passive position in making information public.

The past model in which reforms are undertaken from top to bottom has come to an end. China's future reforms need efforts from all walks of life. Looking back, we can see the government came under public scrutiny for being opaque. The public's criticism of the government has pushed a transparent system forward.

But we shouldn't say the current government is not doing its job. Public opinion presses the government, and that's how democracy emerges. Improvements by the country can hardly catch up with the demands of the public, despite the country's efforts.

Whether China can achieve harmony in terms of its politics depends on what consensus society reaches on the quality of interaction between the government and the public. While the government has the determination for reforms, the public's calls are much louder. China can hardly achieve a universal consensus nowadays, but it should be able to see achievements in its reforms and ensure national unity.