To mark the beginning of New Year, People's Daily Online recalls in chronological order those economic events of 2013 which are worthy of comment, recollection, or reflection.

On January 18, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that China's GDP in 2012 increased 7.8 percent compared with the same period of 2011. It was the lowest growth rate since 1999 and the second lowest rate in the past 20 years. "Maintaining an eight percent increase" has been a key target for China's economy, but after China's economic transformation encountered resistance, there have been changes: the Twelfth Five-Year Plan set an annual GDP growth rate of 7 percent as the new target.