China's GDP in 2017 reached 82.71 trillion yuan ($12.86 trillion), this is the first time the figure surpassed 80 trillion yuan, beating the government's 6.5 percent growth target, the country's National Bureau of Statistics data showed on Thursday.

The GDP growth maintained 6.9 year-on-year, with 0.2 percentage points higher than that of 2016.

This is the first acceleration in China’s economic growth since 2010. 

"In the past year, Chinese economy kept a stable and favorable development momentum,” Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said last week, adding that the positive performance is a result of China refraining from “flooding” the economy with strong stimulus, promoting supply-side reforms and developing new growth momentum.

The reading is up from the 6.7 percent the previous year, which marked its lowest growth in a quarter of a century.

However, the world’s second-largest economy has vowed to attach more importance to the quality of development, including healthier economy structure and a better environment, instead of merely economic growth.

The 2017 growth is driven by fast growth in consumption and services sector as well as rebounding trade.

China's consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.6 percent year-on-year in 2017 due to the rise in food and oil prices, and the country's producer price index (PPI) last year went up 6.3 percent year-on-year, ending a five-year decline.

After two years decline, China's trade surplus expanded to 27.8 trillion yuan (4.28 trillion US dollars) in 2017, gaining 14.2 percent in a year, during which the readings were driven up by a mild global economic recovery and commodity price hikes.