The pace of Chinese growth eased only modestly in the first quarter to 10.6 per cent, showing the resilience of the world's fourth-largest economy despite fierce winter weather and a global credit crunch.
Annual gross domestic product growth dropped from 11.2 per cent in the final quarter of 2007 but easily beat market expectations of 10 per cent.
With consumer inflation remaining elevated at 8.3 per cent in the year to March, albeit down from near 12-year highs of 8.7 per cent in February, economists said Beijing would be wary of relaxing policy despite fears for China's export prospects.
The stronger-than-expected GDP data will be welcome to global policy makers, who are looking to big emerging markets like China to take up some of the slack in the global economy as the United States teeters on the brink of recession.
China has grown by 10 per cent a year or more since 2003, catapulting it into fourth place in the global economic rankings.
Economists expect it to leapfrog third-placed Germany this year, yet annual output per head of the 1.3 billion population is only about $2,500 compared with about $46,000 in the United States, Standard Chartered Bank noted in a report.
Growth beat forecasts despite what the National Bureau of Statistics called unprecedented ice storms in January and February that disrupted output across much of southern China and despite the spreading impact of the US subprime credit crisis.
"Policies were put into place in an effective way, leading to steady and fast economic growth," the statistics office said.
Although the economy has held up well so far, economists said it would be difficult for China to avoid being dragged down by weakness in the industrial world because its growth relies heavily on external demand.
"Export growth will slow down in the second quarter mainly due to weakening demand from the United States. As you can see, many companies have already felt the pinch," said Zhang Sihyuan, an analyst with Southwest Securities in Beijing.