Bernard Yeung, dean of School of Business, National University of Singapore, said China has to carry out reforms to "allow the market more decision rights" and give more space to the private sector, which is believed to be more efficient.

Yeung said that Chinese leaders have the right policy mix in their development and reform plans and that it is crucial for the planned reform to be implemented.

Chinese leaders have been pushing for structural reforms, trying to raise the quality of supply while reasonably increasing the overall demand.

Jia Kang, a well-known economist, cited examples of Chinese tourists going abroad to buy quality consumer products, including toilet covers made in Japan.

Others agreed the key is industrial upgrading and the growth of new sectors.

In order for Chinese companies to move up the value chain, China aims to continue increasing investment in education and research and development and make such investment more efficient.

Meanwhile, it is encouraging the use of the Internet to galvanize the upgrading of traditional sectors and aims to reduce overcapacity in sectors such as coal and steel.

In a reform set to be complete in the first half of this year, the government has also announced that value-added tax will replace revenue-based tax in all sectors, including the real estate and the services sector. It is expected to reduce the tax burden of small- and medium-sized enterprises and spur service outsourcing.

Some economists said it is still too early to tell how long it will take for the new growth drivers to make up for the loss resulting from part of the labor-intensive manufacturing industries moving out under the pressure of rising labor and production costs.

Others see obvious signs of progress. Consumption in China has been growing at a speed faster than the GDP, and the services sector, for the first time, accounted for slightly more than 50 percent of the GDP last year. Job creation remains strong even as GDP growth is slower.

Huang Yiping, a member of the central bank advisory committee, said Chinese makers of house appliances have been continuing to unveil new products. Chinese firms have a competitive edge in industries such as telecom and engineering equipment, 3D printing and robotics. Many services have benefited from the Internet Plus drive and grown fast, while new ones are springing up.

"I am not so pessimistic largely because I think we see many new enterprises and new industries coming," Huang said in a panel discussion on supply-side structural reforms.

The rise of e-commerce giant Alibaba alone has led to the birth of many small- and medium-sized enterprises and created more than 10 million jobs, he said.