Throughout 2013, China caught the attention of the world.

From the 18th CPC National Congress (November, 2012) to the Third Plenary Session of 18th CPC Central Committee (November, 2013), observers outside China watched the emerging East Asian power with high expectations. China, a new engine propelling the world's economic growth and a regional power playing an important role in international affairs, is increasingly participating in the global development. Foreign leaders, press, experts and common people, have all cast their eyes on China.

Eye-catching growth

David Shambaugh, a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and Director of the China Policy Program at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University, indicated in his latest book China Goes Global: The Partial Power (2013) that China's rise is "the big story of our era." This sentiment represents a general acknowledgement of the world opinions.

The whole world was surprised by the remarkable progress that China achieved in 2013. China's development no longer consists only of rapid GDP growth. China has established a close link between its growth and that of the rest of the world.

For example, China successfully launched the lunar probe Chang'e-3 at the end of 2013. "Mankind took its latest giant leaps in space exploration" as the British newspaper the Independent commented concerning China's ambitious space program. The term "giant leap" can also be used to describe major breakthroughs that China has made with its going global high-speed railway network. China's development has increasingly benefited the rest of the world.

People around the world are more and more interested in knowing China. The Economist, an influential business and politics magazine, publishes an annual list of what it considers the best books of the year, which is always highly regarded. On its 2013 list, under the political and current affairs section, three out of 10 books refer to China, namely Forgotten Ally: China's World War II; China Goes Global: The Partial Power; and How Asia Works: Success and Failure in the World's Most Dynamic Region.

Coping with challenges

As an emerging power, China's attitude and solutions toward challenges have also caught the world's attention.

The Chinese Government issued a series of strict regulations tightening the government's budget and fighting against corruption since the new leadership took office in 2013. Outsiders soon found that soon after China's new policies had taken effect the country underwent significant changes. For instance, sales of luxury products in China dropped drastically due to anti-corruption efforts. British newspaper Financial Times published an article on November 17, 2013 titled Legs Fall off China's Hairy Crab Industry, covering the government's strict ban on Chinese officials to accepting crabs as gifts. Singapore's main Chinese-language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao also observed that the anti-corruption efforts undertaken by the Chinese Government will be pushed forward clearly and definitely.

Since the beginning of 2013, smog has become a global topic. How will China tackle this challenge? As the largest developing economy, its efforts to balance development and environmental protection will be under global scrutiny.

In regards to the economy, the world has realized that China is committed to change its current economic development model. As Stephen S. Roach, a senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a senior lecturer at the Yale School of Management, said, China's new leadership has decided to end its GDP obsession. Instead, new policies will focus on the quality of economic growth.

During his state visit to China on November 16, 2013, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that he was impressed by the determination towards reforms that the new Chinese leadership has taken on, as well as their confidence in tackling challenges and difficulties in the future. His speech exemplifies the opinion of many state leaders over China's reform.

Global trend-setter

After the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee concluded, the Reuters' Chinese website released an in-depth article on November 17, 2013, titled China to Strongly Push Substantial Reform, reporting China's reform resolution and measures.

How China will deepen reform and where China will go in future? This is becoming a focal point of global attention.

Nearly all highly regarded news outlets worldwide hold the same opinion.

On November 23, 2013, The Economist magazine said that China's reform act as a wide-ranging blueprint for change over the next two decades. The New York Times also commented that China's reform measures would change China greatly. The Wall Street Journal reported the measures made by the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee and detailed what it described as the "ambitious reform plan" on November 15, 2013.

The world has high expectations for China's reform, not only because China is an important engine advancing the growth of global economy, but also because China has a deepening influence in the international community. This has become a common view of many parties around the world.

Jeremy Rifkin, the author of The Third Industrial Revolution, is confident of China's future. "China will lead the Third Industrial Revolution," he said at a symposium held in Qingdao China in October, 2013.

After listening Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at Boao Forum for Asia 2013 in Hainan Province on April 7, 2013, Giles Chance, a visiting professor at the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, pointed out that China is growing to be a global instigator.

China's rise is catching more and more attention from the world. But the future for China is not going to easy. As David Shambaugh wrote in his latest book China Goes Global: The Partial Power (2013) that "China has a very long way to go before it becomes – if it ever becomes – a true global power."