More sustainable growth

While the 6.6-percent GDP growth rate that China registered last year was slower than that in 2017 and the double-digit growth was often seen in the past decades, investors should not overlook the fact that the growth was based on a much larger economic scale, analysts said.

The Chinese economy expanded to over 90 trillion yuan ($13.4 trillion) in 2018, almost tripling its size from 10 years ago, official data showed.

"It's true the economy is slowing, but if you look at the output added each year, it's still very impressive," said JP Morgan Chief China Economist Zhu Haibin.

By his calculation, even if China's growth slows to 6 percent, it still means the economy would expand by some 700 billion dollars a year, almost the size of some emerging economies.

Such economic performance has allowed the country enough room to shift from the old investment- and export-driven growth model to one that draws strength from consumption and innovation, which is more sustainable and less dependent on external factors.

While acknowledging economic headwinds, especially in the first half of 2019, Nomura Securities said in a report that the economy would likely see a rebound in the second half.