Not a bad start for growth

China's slowest quarterly growth in the past 10 years looks much like a dark cloud that features a silver lining offering a brighter future for the national economy.

Latest statistics show that China's economy expanded by 6.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, 4.5 percentage points lower than the first quarter of last year and down 0.7 percentage points from the previous quarter.

Compared with its 9 percent growth for all of 2008 and a 13 percent gain in 2007, the Chinese economy has indeed slowed far below its long-term growth trend. Yet, given recessions in economies around the world as the global financial and economic crisis worsens, it is no exaggeration to claim that the overall national economy has showed positive changes, with better performance than expected, in the first three months this year.