Six big issues that the country needs to address

With the recent stock market rout, unimpressive growth data, and yuan devaluation against the US dollar, the Chinese economy seems to be in a particularly difficult stage.

The latest data release about industry and investment in July seems to suggest that to maintain even 7 percent growth in GDP (the economy's annual target) would be a challenge in the third quarter, in contrast with the nation's close-to-10 percent growth rate a couple of years ago.

The stock market sell-off and yuan devaluation are to some extent only the byproduct of an economy that seems to have been fumbling its way forward for too long - if not too slow in implementing its various programs to promote growth.