Exceptions

There were two exceptions during the period: One was 2008, when manufacturing tumbled as a result of a setback in exports because of the outbreak of the US financial crisis. The other was 2003, when services suffered from the spread of the deadly SARS epidemic.

If China can manage to keep up the trend emerging from 2012 and 2013, by developing services faster than manufacturing, there is hope that the desired transition would eventually come along.

There is huge room for the service sector to continue to claim more investment and generate more revenues - thus contributing more to the national GDP. There is still a gap between the services that Chinese citizens can get in Beijing and Shanghai and the services that they can get from the provinces.

From data released by various local statistical offices, one can see that during the first three quarters of 2013, as the service sector's contribution to total local GDP was 78 percent in Beijing and 61 percent in Shanghai, its contribution remained below 50 percent in even the most industrialized coastal provinces.

In Chongqing, a municipality in southwestern China, the sector's contribution remained as meager as 39 percent, despite the local economy's impressive overall records.

In fact there are many Chinese cities boasting various specialties in manufacturing, while very few cities, are known for their offerings in services.

In the long run, the inequality in services would severely handicap the development of market competition and the general welfare. A lack of services, especially a human-made sort, can be a hotbed of official corruption and monopoly and other violations of consumer rights.

In a nutshell, if the service sector's momentum can remain strong, it can power the nation's further growth. But if its momentum wanes, the nation may indeed fall into the so-called middle-income trap, to never gain any power to lift itself up.

So, from now on, in China's quarterly GDP report, the comparison of the service and manufacturing sector growth rates will have to be carefully watched.