An employee welds the exterior of a vehicle along a production line at a factory in Qingdao, Shandong province Dec 1, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

After decades of breakneck growth, China's economy has entered a new normal of medium-high growth. In the context of this economic deceleration and the complicated circumstances at home and abroad, the country's top leaders have mapped out a "new direction" for the world's second-largest economy and are resolved to pursue development that is "innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared" and press ahead with the supply-side structural reform.

China's development still offers important opportunities even as the economy adapts to its new normal. In fact, a series of major economic changes under the new normal has created new opportunities and pointed out the new direction for China's development.

Under this new direction, China's economy, albeit moderately slowed, will realize a more optimized structure and division of labor, create new driving forces, and develop stronger resilience and a greater capability to resist risks. In this way, China will be able to endure temporary hardship while pursuing higher-quality, more efficient and more sustainable development.

The new direction for China's development necessitates new development philosophies to meet the challenges of the new normal and the external circumstances.

"Innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared" are new development philosophies for China, since they break decisively with the previous development approaches aimed at growth for the sake of growth and address the outstanding problems and contradictions that have emerged in the process of China's development. They represent a sustainable dynamic for the country's future economic development.

The new direction is a significant step forward toward establishing a well-off society in an all round way and pushing forward structural reform.

Following the new direction set by its top leadership, the country needs to work harder to advance institutional reforms and policy adjustments to promote its sound, robust and sustainable development on the road to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.