The pursuit of balance now begins to pay off

The economy grew more balanced last year, with the service sector and inland regions playing a bigger role and the urban-rural income gap narrowing, as the government worked to improve the quality of growth.

The National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday that, for the first time, the service sector played a bigger role in the economy than in industry.

The service sector generated 46.1 percent of GDP in 2013, up from 44.6 percent in 2012. The industrial sector, in comparison, accounted for 43.9 percent of GDP, down from 45.3 percent in 2012.