A decade of sweeping economic changes

For the West, the year 2008 marked the beginning of a period of crisis, recession and uneven recovery. The year was an important turning point for China, too, but one that was followed by a decade of rapid progress that few could have foreseen.

Of course, when US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed, triggering a global financial crisis, China's leaders were deeply worried. Their concerns were compounded by natural disasters - including severe sleet rain and snow storms in South China in January 2008 and the devastating Wenchuan earthquake four months later, which killed 70,000 people - as well as unrest in Tibet.

At first, China's fears seemed to be coming true. Despite hosting an impressive Olympic Games in Beijing that August, its stock market plunged from its 2007 high of 6,124 to 1,664 points in October 2008, in what amounted to a record-breaking crash.