For many sitting in China's parliament and its advisory body, smiles and silence are golden. They know all they can do is rubber-stamp any proposals put forward by the ruling Communist Party.
Indeed, never have any of the party's proposals, laws or policy documents been rejected by the nearly 3,000 men and women who make up the National People's Congress, or the 2,000-odd delegates of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which meet concurrently in a 10-day period.
But that doesn't mean everyone involved in the just-concluded session is smiling and silent. Some of the delegates and deputies are expressing their dissatisfaction to the overseas media.
'You overseas media are more independent, objective and balanced,' said Ning Yuan, a CPPCC member, in the corridor in the Great Hall of the People, adding that he was frustrated about last year's government performance.
In his annual government work report that began the annual NPC session on March 5, Premier Wen Jiabao said 'China has won' as it had surpassed nearly all predictions by posting 8.7 per cent growth last year at a time of global economic uncertainty. But Ning disagreed, saying China had not achieved the 'hard-earned recovery' Wen described, but rather 'wrongly earned growth'.
And Ning's dissent had support among NPC deputies. In Sunday's closing-day balloting, Wen's report received 61 'no' or abstention votes, the 2010 budget got more than 400, and the National Development and Reform Commission's annual economic plan earned 197.