A year of deepening reform

There are some who may have raised their eyebrows at China's growth target of around 7.5 percent for 2014.

Certainly after more than three decades of double-digit growth, people can hardly get very excited about such a seemingly mediocre pace of expansion.

Even in 2013 when the country registered its slowest growth in more than a decade, the Chinese economy still expanded by 7.7 percent.