Growth still sought, but by new means

GUANGZHOU - Deemed to be the largest provincial-level economy in China in the past 22 years, Guangdong has set its annual economic growth goal at about 8 percent for the next five years, which is slightly higher than the national average though lower than the goals in many other provinces.

"We intend to place even more emphasis on transforming our economic development plan," Huang Huahua, the provincial governor, said in a recent interview.

Although the GDP of Guangdong has outgrown that of Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Huang cited several reasons why the current plan could prove unsustainable.