Officials and economists alike seem to be sure that China's year-on-year growth will exceed 8 percent this year. While the existing data underpin such optimism, China faces both domestic and international challenges in maintaining stable growth.

The world's second-largest economy successfully avoided a hard landing by expanding 7.9 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter. And seemingly buoyed by the International Monetary Fund's forecast that this year China's economy may expand by 8.2 percent, officials and research institutions have struck a similar note of optimism about the country's growth prospects.

Indeed, if the world economy fares better this year, as the IMF has forecast, it will provide solid support for China's growth, which remains heavily dependent on the external environment.