Five-Year Plans — it will be the 13th since the People’s Republic was founded in 1949 — are a holdover from the days before China embraced market reforms that have lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty.

But they still provide wide-ranging guidelines for managing the nation’s affairs, from the boardroom to the bedroom.

China is a key driver of the world economy and analysts have urged more and broader structural reforms to sustain its long-term expansion.

-- AFP on Oct 26