As China's economy grows, so does reform call

For the first nine months, consumption helped drive up growth by 3.5 percentage points, less than the 4.3 percentage points jacked up by investment. Exports, however, dragged down the third-quarter GDP growth by 0.1 percentage points, said Sheng Laiyun.

To ensure a healthier long-term growth, China must steer away from its previous growth model that was dependent on investment and exports, and the key to a successful transformation is reform, according to Lian Ping, chief economist at the Bank of Communications.

It's widely expected that comprehensive reforms will be planned out during the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Communist Party of China Central Committee due in November. Many analysts expect the meeting to push ahead with administrative, financial and tax reforms, which will set the agenda for economic changes in the country.

In the short and medium term, China will be happy to sacrifice some economic growth for reforms and economic structural transformation, said Liu Yuanchun, assistant dean of the School of Economics at Renmin University of China.

Chinese leaders have signaled a greater tolerance for a slowdown as they seek to stabilize growth while rebalancing the economy.

"China's economic fundamentals are sound," President Xi Jinping said in a speech delivered at the eighth G20 summit last month. "China has realized that it has to advance structural reforms in order to solve the problems hindering its long-term economic development, even though it will mean slower growth," he added.

Premier Li Keqiang echoed the remarks, saying, "As long as the economy runs within the reasonable range, we will keep the macro-economic policy generally stable, and focus on shifting the growth model and on structural readjustment."