In Davos, some opinion leaders said the world faced unprecedented challenges and risks last year.

When asked to respond to that, Jin Liqun, president of the recently launched Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, although he did not go into details, said that the worst time in history was even tougher than what happened last year. He said that those saying it was the worst of times were doing so because their memories of last year are still fresh. He concluded with an upbeat assessment of the future prospects for China's economy.

Such optimism was shared by the executives of BAT (Baidu, Alibaba and Tecent), China's tech giants, and other fast-growing private enterprises.

Tian Ning, aged 39, is the founder of Panshi, a listed Internet company which manages the advertisements on the majority of Chinese language websites. He expressed the same optimism about the Chinese economy as Alibaba's Jack Ma.

Although some traditional companies maybe struggling, Tiansaid, Chinese companies are among those leading the so-called fourth industrial revolution. The revenues and profits of his company have been growing for years and he even boasted that his company's number of overseas offices will reach 50 by the end of this year. At present it has 16 overseas offices.

"China is a big market but the world is even bigger," Tian said, encapsulating his confidence on his company's global expansion plans.

Challenges will continue to emerge as China makes the transition from an economy driven by exports and investment to one driven by innovation and consumption. But while the road ahead might be difficult the road map is clear - the journey has begun.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels.

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn